Researcher contact details

Dr Kate Tudor

A: Room 228 Lipman Building, Department of Social Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 8ST

E: kate.tudor@northumbria.ac.uk

Alternative Forms of Security

Findings:

• The research identified a growing market in rural private security services. Individuals involved in the provision of these services identified that their decision to move into rural security specifically, was underpinned by their identification of a growing appetite for such provision among rural residents. They discussed the way in which rising crime rates, growing fear of crime and dissatisfaction with the police provided fertile commercial potential for their enterprise. In practice, the nature of these services varied enormously ranging from the provision of situational crime prevention measures, and in particular target hardening initiatives, to surveillance technology and security patrols. Others provided a combination of all measures within one security package.

• The legitimacy of the private security provision also varied significantly. Thus, some services were provided by ex-police officers whilst others worked in partnership with the police. One particularly successful enterprise worked closely in partnership with an extremely progressive local rural crime team and was involved in bait vehicle, dome and camera programmes in addition to suspect surveillance and intelligence gathering. However, at the other end of the spectrum, some of the services being offered within the rural environment were significantly less legitimate and had potential to undermine security within this context. During interview, those operating at this end of the market, spoke of their willingness to use violence against rural offenders and stated that they had experience of doing so in previous occupations. Their capacity for violence was described as being something which rural residents supported as they sought more effective solutions to crime. Thus, the feelings of vulnerability which pervade rural communities are being exploited for profit by groups whose methods have the potential to exacerbate, rather than ameliorate, the problems of violence, unrest and disharmony in rural areas.

• Beyond these more formal responses to rural predation, accounts of rural residents organising against those responsible for acts of poaching, trespassing, intimidation and theft were also offered. There were numerous examples of individuals who had taken it upon themselves to resist the intrusive acts of local offenders and this might involve individualised acts of confrontation or perhaps more clandestine acts which aimed to deter, or at least demoralise, offenders such as placing spikes on their property to damage tyres of vehicles trespassing on their land. However, four respondents also discussed their involvement in collective attempts to organise against those they perceived as threatening. In these examples, descriptions were offered of the ways in which rural residents and workers engaged in either informal patrols of local areas, or took part in a network which would respond to threatening individuals as they were identified. In all four cases, the respondents spoke not only of their willingness to use violence, but also gave examples of where they, and others, had used violence against intruders, which they deemed to be an effective means of dealing with offenders.

Recommendations:

• Some very positive examples of partnership working between police and private security companies were observed and, where this occurred, these arrangements appeared an extremely effective means of overcoming some of the limitations associated with the resourcing of rural crime teams. Consequently, partnership arrangements have the potential to facilitate the adoption of more proactive means of intelligence gathering and this is something which ought to be explored by a broader range of rural crime teams.

• The improvement of communication between rural crime teams and local communities has the potential to reduce feelings of vulnerability, and by extension the demand for alternative forms of security (some of which have the potential to exacerbate problems experienced by rural residents). One of the most effective ways of establishing positive lines of communication was through police participation in Rural Watch WhatsApp groups. Not only did this allow local policing teams to improve their knowledge around local incidents, it also allowed them to disseminate information regarding successful policing operations. Where this occurs, rural communities tend to hold much more positive opinions of the police and relationships come to be underpinned by much greater levels of trust and co-operation.

• These more organic channels of communication also provide fertile ground for the police to share information about recommended security initiatives which might help improve both rural security and fear of crime and help rural residents to avoid falling prey to less reputable and potentially harmful security provision.

Modus Operandi of Offenders: Planning and Scoping of Jobs

Findings:

• The research offers some limited insight into the ways in which jobs are scoped and planned, though it is hoped that more detailed insight will be gained into these factors as the research develops.

• The experiences of one perpetrator in the research might be considered anomalous in the sense that he had been coerced into stealing machinery. As a result of the drug-related debts the individual had accumulated, he might be deemed vulnerable and considered to be acting under duress. As a result, his involvement in the theft of machinery was limited to the act of theft itself meaning that he was able to offer very little insight into the activities which preceded and followed the theft. Nevertheless, there was clear evidence that the job had been explored in advance as the perpetrator was issued with clear instructions regarding the type and location of the vehicle, in addition to information about security features of the property. Similarly, the respondent had been given very clear instructions on the route he was to take and location in which he was to secrete the vehicle. Thus, whilst he was not personally involved in any of these activities, his experiences very clearly evidence the extent to which offenders plan jobs in advance.

• Beyond the anomalous experiences of this individual, the accounts of other perpetrators also elucidate the manner in which offenders plan and scope their targets. All respondents indicated that thefts were preceded by significant scoping activities which aimed to identify suitable targets, though the extent and sophistication of these activities varied enormously.

• In some cases, the identification of victims involved very basic techniques such as travelling around rural areas in vehicles and making note of potential targets to which they would return, often after a significant amount of time. In one case, the offender had a close relationship with a scrap metal dealer who was not directly involved in thefts but who fed him information about the position of vehicles in exchange for small amounts of money, cannabis and amphetamines. Another respondent had links to an individual who held a job as a delivery driver for a parcel company who fed information back to the group involved in the thefts. Again, it was claimed that the delivery driver was not directly involved in the perpetration of thefts.

• Others were more sophisticated in their use of technology. Very often perpetrators returned to the issue of social media, which they found to be an invaluable resource in their criminality. In the first instance, they accessed the social media profiles of potential victims in order to identify machinery present at particular locations. Beyond the profiles of potential victims, pages of rural community groups, rural watch groups and others such as farming interest groups were also routinely joined in order to understand the ways in which communities organised against crime, the knowledge they have about theft patterns and information about patterns of victim behaviour in addition to the identification of machinery. Social media was also widely used to keep abreast of the activities of police and community groups. This involved ‘liking’ and monitoring police Facebook groups to gain insight into patterns of activity and current priorities so that criminal activity may be more likely to evade detection.

• One respondent who was part of a group who stole significant amounts of agricultural vehicles talked about the way in which a more senior member of the group regularly scoured agricultural publications (in both online and in print) in order to identify possible targets for theft.

• Google Maps were often used by participants to identify farms that might occupy locations which made them suitable targets for theft. Perpetrators also used online maps to explore exit routes from jobs, though in more complicated locations, they also tended to scope out routes physically in advance of jobs. In these circumstances, offenders spent considerable time exploring possible routes which would reduce the likelihood of them being seen, places in which they could pause to secrete vehicles, deactivate security, or load machinery on to larger vehicles.

• Many respondents were involved activities which meant that they spent significant amounts of time in rural areas. Their participation in activities such as hare coursing, motocross and riding quads offered them organic opportunities to scope properties and potential targets for theft. However, in one case, one respondent detailed the way in which they engaged in cycling and walking specifically for the purpose of identifying targets. In this case, the perpetrator had gone to significant lengths in the curation of his sartorial choices in order to make his appearance more plausible.

• Brief mention was made to the use of drones on one occasion, but this line of conversation remained undeveloped and no reliable conclusions can be drawn from these comments.

Recommendations:

• Where possible, machinery owners ought to store machinery in places which are not visible from roads or footpaths.

• Machinery owners should remain vigilant regarding those who come to their property purporting to carrying out business activities. If possible, rural residents ought to participate in local rural-watch WhatsApp groups as a means of identifying the presence of, and organising against, such individuals.

• Machinery owners should be more vigilant in maintaining closed privacy settings on social media sites and should avoid posting pictures of machinery. Groups such as the NFU and local rural crime teams might also seek to raise awareness around these issues at events and in media campaigns.

• The research found that online community groups were an invaluable way of communities organising against criminality, but those involved in their establishment and administration must be cognisant of their potential use by criminals. Therefore, groups ought to operate as closed communities and admit only those whose identities can be verified as legitimate. Explicit discussion of information sharing practices etc. ought only to take place in closed forums such as WhatsApp groups, rather than on Facebook sites.

Perpetrator Decision-Making in the Course of Thefts

Findings:

• Without exception, all participants sought to avoid any contact with others in the course of their offending. They perceived their involvement in criminality as a business activity and the potential for contact with witnesses, or conflict with victims, merely served to interfere with their ability to generate profit and was therefore avoided at all costs. Nevertheless, some had experienced verbal and physical conflict where victims had attempted to prevent vehicles from being stolen and in these circumstances, respondents described a straightforward commitment to doing whatever was necessary to be able to leave the scene, preferably with the vehicle. This involved a willingness to use intimidation and violence.

• The perpetrators’ commitment to executing thefts in a clean and timely manner meant that particular characteristics of the physical environment served to make vehicles more or less attractive as potential targets. In the first instance, offenders spoke of their intense dislike of security systems which incorporated extremely loud alarm systems and flood lights. Among all offenders, these particular measures were viewed with intense disdain on account of their ability to attract the attention of others and interfere with their ability to carry out thefts. In a similar vein, some offenders spoke of their dislike of dogs as they were viewed as somewhat ungovernable and unpredictable, and effective at alerting victims to their presence.

• CCTV at the site of offences did not pose a significant issue for respondents. All respondents demonstrated an acute awareness of the potential presence of CCTV cameras and all were fastidious in taking steps to hide their identity. Nevertheless, they were incredibly wary about the presence of both CCTV and ANPR cameras when travelling to and from jobs. Even though this preoccupation was universal among respondents, only two talked about their adoption of practices which aimed to minimise these risks such as the use of false number plates or altering number plates before a journey. A much greater number, however, spoke about the way in which they favoured remote routes for moving vehicles as they posed much smaller risks in terms of surveillance opportunities.

• For the vast majority of offenders, physical security measures such as locks on vehicles or outbuildings provided very little in the way of deterrence as they overwhelmingly attended sites prepared with equipment that would allow them to overcome such measures, such as hand-held burners or bolt cutters. The need to use this equipment was viewed as a quotidian part of stealing equipment which was neither exceptional nor unexpected.

• All but one of the offenders in the study were involved in the theft of quads/ ATVs. On a number of occasions, offenders discussed their preference for particular makes of ATVs to steal and they explained the way in which their selection of vehicles was determined by their attempts to expedite the act of theft. During these discussions, offenders proved fairly astute in their understanding of which bikes were easier to steal and they described the ease with which particular bikes could be started without a key. They therefore expressed a strong preference for particular makes of ATVs, particularly in situations in which offenders had only a very short time-frame in which to carry out thefts, though their decision-making was also driven by the re-sale value and desirability of machinery.

• Conversations around the issue of tracking equipment elicited incredibly diverse responses from perpetrators and to a certain extent, these discussions were particularly useful in revealing the different levels of sophistication among thieves. Data suggests that whilst some thefts are the preserve of less-sophisticated criminals whose ability to generate profit may be thwarted by the presence of trackers, other groups of highly organised offenders routinely attend thefts with devices which allow them to circumnavigate security measures with great ease. Some of the less organised and experienced offenders displayed very little engagement with technology that would allow them to detect, locate and remove trackers. Rather, they tended to secrete vehicles for a cooling-off period as is customary among many thieves. In other cases, those operating at the lower end of the spectrum of sophistication arranged sales prior to thefts and described the way they stole machinery and hastily passed it on whilst ‘hoping for the best’. This latter approach had varying degrees of success from the establishment of extremely lucrative ‘just-in-time’ theft business models, to myriad undesirable outcomes such as detection and recovery of vehicles, conviction and violent acts of retribution meted out by those further down the chain. For those operating in more organised theft networks, the use of technology to detect, locate and either disable or remove tracking equipment was a routine part of stealing vehicles. A number of respondents described the way in which they were able to disable trackers with relative ease. Of this group, the respondents might be understood to comprise of two separate categories. In the first instance, there were those who disabled trackers very quickly after vehicles were stolen and before they were moved on. These respondents were significantly more organised and adept at criminality than those described above but can be considered to be significantly less proficient than the final group who tended to use signal jammers in the course of offending before taking vehicles to an established location where trackers could be removed and vehicles prepared for sale or transportation. It must be said that this latter group were made up of those with involvement in groups with established international links.

• Perpetrators displayed a keen awareness of the potential to incriminate themselves and were meticulous in the way in which they sought to avoid this. Beyond the behaviours detailed above, two offenders spoke about the way in which they used two-way radios whilst committing offences, rather than using mobile phones. One respondent discussed the way in which he and his co-defendant had burnt out a telehandler after it had been used in an ATM attack with a view to destroying any forensic evidence. One group also chose to change their clothing a number of times between committing offending and offloading vehicles in an attempt to make their identification less likely. This latter behaviour was present at the more sophisticated end of the spectrum of offenders. Whilst these behaviours are not remarkable, they offer limited insight into the ways in which offenders are forensic- and surveillance-aware.

Recommendations:

• Evidence beginning to emerge in certain parts of the UK indicates that there may be a trend towards increasing levels of violence associated with plant and agricultural thefts. The accounts of victims collected in this project evidences a concerning level of violence and intimidation associated with this form of criminality. However, whilst the accounts of perpetrators clearly evidence that many have long personal histories of violence, that they are willing to resort to acts of violence during the course of thefts, and that they are characterised by a degree of ruthlessness, their strong preference is to avoid this eventuality which they see as an act of last resort. With a view to reducing the harms associated with thefts, therefore, bodies such as rural crime teams, the NFU, CLA etc. may play a role in offering advice against, and advertising the dangers of, intervening in thefts.

• Despite the very small number of perpetrators in the study, they were unanimous in their dislike of security systems which combined loud alarms and flashing/ flood lights. The efficacy of such measures in deterring offenders is worthy of further exploration with a view that the measures which cause greatest inconvenience to offenders can be promoted in SCP advice offered by bodies such as the police, Farm Watch, NFU etc.

• Part of the attraction of rural areas for perpetrators was the sense that they were less likely to observed, interrupted or recorded carrying out their offences. Rural landscapes and roads offered them a greater degree of freedom from forms of surveillance which pervade urban locations. Whilst this is undoubtedly accurate, a significant number of rural residents and business have CCTV systems which could prove an invaluable resource in identifying and tracking offenders. However, very often CCTV footage remains an untapped resource given the police’s limited resources in responding to acquisitive offences. In several areas, attempts have been made to create a local CCTV database which allows individuals and business to register the presence of their cameras so that their footage might be called upon in the event of an offence. The extension of such schemes have enormous potential to allow rural communities to overcome some of the vulnerabilities which relate to their seclusion. Exploration of the possibility of creating a police-owned database which includes the CCTV of private individuals, businesses, public places and transport networks could provide an extreme useful tool in tackling offending beyond the narrow confines of plant and agricultural thefts.

Illicit Entrepreneurialism of Offenders

Findings:

• Data from the project clearly evidences the fact that those responsible for plant and agricultural thefts are involved in other forms of criminality and that crucially, the perpetrators move flexibly between these various forms of enterprise in response to their assessments of profitability and risk. All perpetrators in the study were involved in a range of criminality. Information on their offending history was collected during interviews and in some cases, subsequent checks were made on PNC/ PND to explore this further. All of the respondents in the study had a long-term commitment to acquisitive offences which included residential burglaries, a wide spectrum of BND offences (including the theft of medical equipment), shoplifting and dog thefts to name but a few. There were also links to wider forms of offending including supply of Class A, drug importation, violence and weapons offences in addition to established links with active OCGs. In terms of their acquisitive offending, none of the respondents demonstrated commitment to a particular type of theft. Rather, the skills for perpetrating thefts and the markets for the disposal of goods were sufficiently flexible so as to accommodate a wide range of goods including plant and agricultural vehicles, trailers, bicycles, tools, boats, metal, fuel and generators.

• The geographical and temporal distribution of perpetrators’ offending was heavily influenced by their assessments of police activity and community organisation against crime. Many discussed the way in which they avoided the concentration on particular forms of theft within small geographical areas for protracted periods, as this was known to attract greater attention from police and communities, and ultimately, make their lives more difficult. Some respondents were therefore cognisant of the need to diversify their offence types and to move their activities regularly, both within and between, force areas in order to avoid attracting too much attention. For many, but not all, their criminality involved covering substantial geographical areas and for those more organised offenders, there was a tendency not to offend on their home force territory. In one example a group in the South West had a reciprocal arrangement with another group whereby they would ‘spot’ targets on each other’s behalf so that they could travel to each other’s area to carry out thefts. During our conversations, a number of offenders were able to identify areas in which they felt that the police had very strong rural crime teams and their assessments proved fairly sagacious.

• Two respondents also talked about areas in which they felt community responses were making it more complex to carry out thefts. In these examples, perpetrators discussed the way in which they felt residents were too often aware of their presence to the extent that they felt their arrival was being pre-empted by local inhabitants. Whilst the reasons for this cannot be confirmed, it may be indicative of the successful functioning of a rural-watch community group.

• Finally, the demand for particular goods was also reported to drive the activities of perpetrators as they chose to focus their attention on those products which offered high rates of return. Their ability to identify and respond to changes in demand for products was fairly remarkable and this was indicative both of their entrepreneurial flair and their possession of transferable skills which allowed them to diversify their criminal activities.

Recommendations:

• Greater recognition of the flexible entrepreneurialism present within criminal communities must be made so that policing responses can be triggered by the proliferation of offending which moves beyond a narrow M.O or target offence type. In many cases, the categorisation of broader ‘rural crimes’ may assist in this matter.

• However, analysis of crime patterns cannot remain wedded to force level data if insight is to be gained into the activities of nominals who routinely, and often strategically, move between force areas in the knowledge that their activities evade the attention of the police. Some very positive steps towards cross-border information sharing have been taken in pockets throughout the UK, but these approaches need to be much more coherently rolled out so that the efficacy of police responses can be improved.

• Given the propensity of perpetrators to travel substantial distances to offend, the development and distribution of an ANPR Hotlist would be of great benefit in helping to develop a national picture around the movement of nominals and to help prepare forces for the arrival of those with an intention to offend.

Officer Experiences of Policing Plant and Agricultural of Thefts

Findings:

• Across the country some exceptional examples of policing plant and agricultural vehicle thefts were identified at individual force level. Thus, within particular areas, officers were incredibly proactive in gathering and sharing intelligence, liaising with neighbouring forces and engaging with officers and units operating at a national level to address plant and agricultural thefts. However, this was not universal and throughout interviews, officers sought to draw attention to the barriers they routinely faced in their work tackling this form of criminality.

• Generally speaking, the policing of rural crime is chronically under-resourced. In some force areas, rural crime teams have been established, or rural officers appointed. However, even where these are in existence, rural officers can still face challenges such as having no vehicles and they are often burdened with the need to constantly bid for resources to carry out everyday policing activities. Moreover, given the low number of officers and limited resources associated with rural policing, officers felt constrained in their ability to engage in proactive, intelligence-led operations as such a significant proportion of their resources were taken up by response policing. Inevitably, this undermined their ability to engage in many of the key activities necessary for effective policing in this area including the building of problem profiles, the development and sharing of intelligence and cross-border working.

• Despite the issues around the resourcing of rural policing, a number of force areas engaged in exceptionally innovative and effective practice but they felt that these efforts could be much better supported at a national level. In particular, they felt that representation of rural crime teams was lacking and that the establishment of regular national forums under stronger leadership, would be of enormous benefit to those working in this area.

• Beyond the more general issue of rural crime, a significant number of officers sought to highlight the exemplary practice of NaVCIS’ DC Chris Piggott in supporting them in policing plant and agricultural thefts more specifically. The support offered by NaVCIS in knowledge, training and information sharing was considered to be an invaluable resource in the fight against machinery thefts. On a number of occasions, officers described the way in which short-comings in cross-border intelligence sharing were laid bare in instances where information shared by NaVCIS originated from neighbouring forces.

• Cross-border intelligence sharing was a recurring issue in every single police interview, given its salience to the problem of machinery and vehicle thefts. Some forces had been proactive in creating initiatives to improve the flow of information across force boundaries and these included both official operations in addition to more informal practices. Where formal initiatives have been established, relationships tend to exist between a number of neighbouring forces whereby information is regularly shared via bulletins and crimes can be tagged with a specific operation name as they are called in. The development of these initiatives has proved incredibly useful in identifying cross-border criminality and has been pivotal in establishing intelligence around offender networks, offending patterns and disposal routes for stolen goods. Some of these collaborations have coalesced around addressing specific offence types such as dome thefts, while others address more general cross-border offending. In discussions around these formal arrangements, some officers sought to highlight that official channels of information sharing tended to be incredibly slow and that, in practice, they often sought to circumvent these communication processes and contact officers directly with whom they had an existing relationship. In a number of other examples, groups of neighbouring forces had established less formal approaches to cross border information sharing, whereby officers would meet regularly to discuss their crime problems and nominals of interest. Both of these approaches were of incredible value in developing greater congruence between the activities of the police and the cross-border offending of criminals. However, by their very definition, these policing groups had borders, and the fact that they were unable to incorporate information from force areas which may be of importance, highlights the need for the improvement of wider information sharing practices. In some cases, even less formal approaches involved the use of WhatsApp groups to share information in real time, both locally and nationally. Often these approaches sat alongside more formal arrangements and were interpreted as a uniquely effective measure in allowing information to be shared in a timely manner. Other forces suggested that they did very little by way of liaising with other policing areas and they were cognisant of the severe limitations this placed on their ability to address criminality.

• Whilst the effective use of PND offers a means to overcome some of the shortcomings around cross-border intelligence sharing, a number of issues were identified by officers which they felt impeded the realisation of this potential. In the first instance, there was a general perception that PND was chronically under-used by officers who tended to rely more heavily on PNC and local force systems. Crucially, this meant intelligence relating to nominals known to be involved in cross-border offending was missed by those involved in the policing of plant and agricultural vehicle crimes. Consequently, many officers suggested that more training on the use of PND would be of enormous benefit to the policing of cross-border criminality. There was also suggestion made that PND training could also be tailored towards helping officers to utilise PND more routinely as a means of recording intelligence.

• Where officers were using PND, they often reported difficulties in obtaining support to flag particular nominals or vehicles relating to the perpetration of machinery and vehicle thefts and they felt that more support was needed to achieve this.

• Where police had identified organised criminality in plant and agricultural thefts, they reported difficulties in achieving the recognition of these groups as OCGs. Very often, plant theft groups remained unmapped because of their failure to meet prioritisation thresholds in relation to threat, harm and risk. Other officers reported issues around the mapping of particular groups when offenders were predominantly drawn from a particular family. In these instances, officers were advised that groups could not be mapped, despite the fact that they functioned as an OCG.

• For those involved in policing these offences, the quality of police data and systems was a source of significant discontent. A number of obstacles to the successful recording and retrieval of information were identified and these issues made it quite impossible to generate meaningful data. Whilst problems with recording practices exist across all crime types, the issue appeared to be particularly acute in relation to plant and agricultural thefts. This issue related to the limited knowledge of call-handlers, and in many cases officers, in relation to this type of specialist equipment. This means that very often, vehicles were improperly recorded in the first instance, meaning that they could not be subsequently retrieved for analysis. As a result, many theft occurrences simply do not appear in official statistics which, as a result, are not able to offer anything approximating an accurate reflection of the reality of offences.

• For those working as vehicle examiners, the replacement of POLKA with the Knowledge Hub was something which adversely affected their work as the new forum was something which was deemed inferior in offering support to identify, and work with, obscure vehicles. It was suggested that support offered by NaVCIS had been extremely useful in overcoming the limitations of the new system but, given the limited resources of NaVCIS, this is not sustainable. Therefore, attention to the ways in which the new system might be improved in order to more effectively support vehicle examiners would be of enormous benefit.

• Some of the accounts offered by officers regarding the policing of criminal elements of GRT communities reflected the concerns raised by victims of crime detailed above. In some cases, officers felt that they were restricted in their ability to provide effective policing within these communities. This manifested in a number of ways. Firstly, where force areas have a particular issue with members of the criminal element of the GRT community committing thefts, they felt constrained in their ability to discuss these issues, and by extension, formulate meaningful policing responses. In the second instance, officers discussed that they sometimes felt unsupported in requests to enter sites and recover vehicles. The research found that this issue was not as significant as rural residents imagined, as a great deal of false information existed around these events. Nevertheless, there were examples where police were unable to justify the resources necessary to enter sites, or where officers felt that sites were policed less thoroughly than other communities on account of political sensitivities or assessments of risk.

• However, some of the strategic decisions made in relation to the recovery of vehicles were underpinned by the desire to minimise harm. In discussions with those employed by manufacturing or tracking companies, respondents were appreciative of advice offered by the police where the potential for significant harm meant that it was inadvisable to recover vehicles. This was something regarded as extremely valuable by respondents who felt that it enabled them to carry out their work without exposing themselves to undue risk.

• As some vehicles within the UK are stolen for export by international OCGs, their identification, location and recovery has inevitably been impacted by Brexit and the demise of the Schengen Agreement. As a result, police are dependent on personal contacts with officers abroad or on accessing their force’s SPoC for Interpol’s EASF access, to which numerous barriers exist in practice. This means that it is increasingly difficult for officers overseas to identify if UK machinery is stolen and for UK officers to liaise with those working abroad to locate and recover stolen vehicles.

Recommendations:

• First and foremost, greater prioritisation must be given to the resourcing of policing rural and acquisitive offences in recognition of their associated harms and links to serious and organised criminality. Where this proves difficult, sharing of best practice in relation to innovative ways of resourcing teams such as obtaining demonstration vehicles from manufacturers, or ways of liaising with private companies to provide bait machinery and vehicles and intelligence collection services would be of enormous benefit.

• The current role played by NaVCIS’ Rural Vehicle Crime Officer has been pivotal in connecting police officers operating in disparate police force areas. The extension and development of this work is vital to effective policing in this area, as it has proved invaluable in equipping officers with specialist knowledge in relation to plant and agricultural machinery and vehicles, vehicle registration and security schemes, in addition to technological advances in the M.Os of offenders. Recognition of the success of this work ought to reflect the importance of offering further support to it in the future.

• The development of Operation OPAL, and more specifically the Agricultural and Construction Equipment (ACE) Team, represents a very hopeful development in cross-border information sharing. The national theft forums they have held so far in relation to quad and dome thefts have been very successful in highlighting the continuity of crime problems and the activities of nominals across force areas. However, Op OPAL is limited by the same shortcomings of police systems as local forces and thus their capability in meeting national intelligence needs would be greatly enhanced by the exploration of improvements to police data systems. In the first instance, the provision of resources to facilitate more widespread training for both officers and call handlers in relation to recording vehicle details more accurately is incredibly important. However, the outcomes of this training might be more impactful if a review of data fields in local police systems also takes place to ensure that the correct information is mandated at the point of recording. Beyond this, the exclusion of PND from CGI’s current reforms of national systems appears to offer an opportunity to explore and implement potential reforms of PND which might make data more accessible in the future. As a starting point, a review of the way in which data can be more accurately tagged and classified so that it may be more amenable to accurate retrieval processes is necessary. However, there are also potential options to develop technological solutions outside of existing systems. The research has identified several projects, both within the UK and abroad, which are attempting to overcome some of the problems associated with the creation of accurate data sets in relation to acquisitive criminality. Whilst these systems are at an inchoate stage of development, their ability to amalgamate information from across force areas and to create a more accurate reflection of national statistics through their homogenisation of theft and recovery data sets is clear, and is something which warrants further consideration.

• Police officers from across the country have proved incredibly resourceful in their attempts overcome the inadequacies of current information and intelligence sharing systems and WhatsApp has been at the centre of many of these innovations. However, many forces have recently taken steps to remove WhatsApp from police phones on account of concerns around data security and this has significant potential to undermine several channels of communication which are of central importance to effective policing. Therefore, timely identification of alternative means of more effective information sharing is of great importance. It may be that reviews of responses to acquisitive crime currently underway may be able to accommodate consideration of the potential to develop a new app for use within the police in which officers could share intelligence in real time and who’s use could be democratised beyond the limited numbers of those who currently have access to PND.

• Just as the potential for technological innovation and the development of alternative information sharing processes have the potential to improve domestic policing, these approaches also have the potential to help overcome some of the problems faced in relation to international policing, post-Brexit. In particular, a current project around identifying stolen property in British policing, which is still in its infancy, has great potential to contribute to the amelioration of the issues faced by officers involved in policing machinery and vehicle thefts at an international level. These findings will therefore be fed into the group with a view to exploring this further.

The Crime-Industrial Complex: The Commercial Dynamics of Theft

• Beyond the traditional tripartite relationship between offenders, victims and the police, the research has identified that a unique set of commercial circumstances also serve to exert significant influence over the dynamics of machinery and vehicle thefts. The nature of these issues are complex and involve conflicts of interest which exist among machinery dealers, manufacturers and insurers. During conversations with those involved in the world of machinery manufacture, sales and insurance, the commercial implications of addressing thefts was a regular point of discussion. Many sought to highlight the way in which alterations to current arrangements had the potential to economically disadvantage companies operating in these fields and others went further in suggesting that particular parties derived tangible advantage by failing to contribute meaningfully to attempts to reduce theft. With a view to resolving these issues, the NPCC Lead for Agricultural Machinery and Vehicle Thefts, Superintendent Andy Huddleston – supported more recently by the Deputy President of the NFU, Stuart Roberts – has organised a series of national forums between stakeholders. However, whilst some positive initiatives have come to fruition on the back of these talks, many of the fundamental issues remain unresolved.

Conclusions

• Plant and agricultural machinery and vehicle thefts remain a significant problem across the UK and internationally. Far from being the preserve of low-level criminals, many of these offences are perpetrated by highly organised offenders who travel widely in order to commit thefts. The participation of offenders in wider forms of criminality, and their links to OCG activity, is indicative of the relationship between this form of acquisitive criminality and other forms of more serious crime. When taken into consideration with the significant impacts and harms associated with victimisation, the need to address the business activities of illicit entrepreneurs operating in this area becomes clear.

• Significant barriers to effective policing exist for officers working in this area and many of these issues relate to the inadequacies of data systems, cross-border working and information sharing practices. At the present time, many of these issues are being overcome by the ingenuity, innovation and proactive efforts of particular officers, forces and units, but the institutionalisation of better working practices is something which also needs to be pursued. The establishment of Op OPAL’s ACE team is something which will undoubtedly contribute positively to this and is indicative of the improvements that can be made by collaborative working between police and partner agencies.

• Currently, a complex web of commercial interests stands as an impediment to the meaningful reform of insurance and manufacturing arrangements which have great potential to reduce the number of thefts taking place across the construction and agricultural industries. Through widespread target-hardening and the generation of cultural change among machinery owners, effective partnership working with those from industry is central to finding effective solutions to theft.