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Farmers' views sought to help shape practical crime prevention advice

Posted Today

Farmers and agricultural contractors across Great Britain are being asked their thoughts on crime prevention to help shape practical advice for policing teams.

The work is being carried out by Dr Kreseda Smith, a rural criminologist and  Director of the wider Rural Resilience Research Group at º£½ÇÉçÇø Adams. She said: “The theft of assets from tractors, quad bikes and ATVs, through to tools, tack, and animals is increasing year on year.

“While rural crime policing teams do they best they can, the current resourcing of these teams does not allow them to be everywhere. As such, it is necessary for our farming and contractor communities to do whatever they can to protect their assets from the increasingly organised nature of rural crime.

“This survey, along with subsequent interviews, will begin the path to understanding how these communities think about crime prevention and how to best protect their assets.”

Survey respondents will be asked a series of questions about the crime prevention measures they currently use, what factors they take into account when thinking about crime prevention on their farm, and what kinds of support and guidance they have when it comes to protecting their agricultural assets.

Dr Smith added: “The research is important to enable us to have a better understanding of the things farmers and contractors think about when they are considering crime prevention measures to protect their agricultural assets.

“It will allow me to develop guidance for policing teams and security advisors to ensure that they are asking the right questions of farmers.

“The survey results, alongside the interviews, will be used to develop practical understanding of how farmers and contractors make decisions about crime prevention, what drivers and barriers sit behind those decisions, and how they can be best supported to adopt appropriate and effective crime prevention measures to protect their agricultural assets.”

The research will be used to provide practical guidance for police and security advisers to improve the way they work with farmers and contractors, podcasts and other information to help people in rural communities understand how to protect their assets, and policy guidance for those shaping decisions about rural prevention at a strategic level.

The survey is currently open until October 31 – and farmers and contractors in the West Midlands and Cheshire are also welcome to take in longer ‘kitchen table interviews’ taking place between December and May to explore their crime prevention decision-making further with Dr Smith.

The survey can be found at: