In Derbyshire, Farm Watch is a free alert system aimed at fighting rural crime.
The aim is for it to strengthen community spirit, encourage vigilance and help reduce the opportunity for crime to happen in the first place by the sharing of information.
When someone reports a crime such as the theft of agricultural equipment, messages will be sent out to everyone signed up to the scheme urging them to be on the lookout. The same goes for issues such as suspicious vehicle sightings − if it’s reported, police and watch members can share that information with the whole farming community and try to stop crime before it happens.
Superintendent Graham McLaughlin said: “The purpose of Farm Watch is to protect our rural communities by sharing information as quickly as possible. That can be through Farm Watch members talking to each other as well as to police, so we can work together and stamp out this type of crime in Derbyshire. Together with the community, who are the eyes and ears out in the countryside, we will be able to shut the gate on rural crime and ensure that the risk of becoming a victim is slashed with it. But for it to work properly, we need as many people as possible to sign up.”
The scheme launches in April initially for the Derbyshire Dales and High Peak areas and is a joint project between the police and the local authorities in those areas of the county.
Members will receive: crime prevention advice to farmers and landowners, to help ensure their property and goods are as secure as possible;
A property marking scheme to make it harder for thieves to dispose of stolen goods;
A text, email or voicemail alert service;
A dedicated page at www.derbyshire.police.uk to keep members updated with the latest rural crimes, trends and prevention tips.
It will be powered by the constabulary’s Derbyshire Alert service, a free messaging system that sends appeals or crime prevention messages to tens of thousands of recipients via text, email or voice message.
Those signing up for Farm Watch will receive information relating to rural crime, such as livestock rustling, oil theft, vehicle theft, burglary, trespass and criminal damage. Farmers can sign up at Bakewell or Leek farmers’ markets over the next few weeks or online at www.derbyshirealert.co.uk.
Warning signs for your gates and property will be given out so criminals will be aware that you are a member of Farm Watch.
Separately, a woman has been arrested on suspicion of shoplifting in Ripley after local retailers used the Shop Watch radios to contact police.
Boots the Chemist, on High Street, used the system to report that cosmetics and perfumes had been stolen at around 3pm on Monday, February 4.
Police attended and details of the incident were passed on to all other retailers in the scheme.
Details of a similar incident on Wednesday, February 6, at Superdrug, on Oxford Street, were passed on through the airwaves to officers and local shops.
On Monday, February 18, reports came through the radios that a suspicious woman had been seen in the town.
PC Dan Quick of the Ripley Safer Neighbourhood Policing Team attended the area and found the woman, who was arrested on suspicion of shoplifting.
Shop Watch in Ripley was set up by police and the Amber Valley Community Safety Partnership to help target and prevent retail related crime and officers from the Ripley Safer Neighbourhood Policing Team monitor the Shop Watch radios.
Sergeant Dave Harrison, of the Amber Valley Community Safety Partnership, said: “The radio link allows businesses to quickly pass on the details of any incidents or suspicious activity to police and other shops.
“These incidents demonstrate the value of Shop Watch, which put other retailers on their guard and alerted police to a potential offender.”
