Country crime There has recently been an increase in high value acquisitive rural Crime including: Theft of Building Materials Theft of Fuel/Oil Theft of Metal/Machinery/Power Tools Theft of rural vehicles/quad bikes/4x4s/Trailers/Tractors Offenders are targeting open area compound/units and attack the padlocks of diesel/fuel tanks. Due to the variety of equipment stolen, it is likely that there is more than one offender involved. Goods carrying vehicles are also being stolen possibly in preparation for further thefts. Intelligence Analysts have studied the reported crime and the vast majority are occurring at night-time (between the hours of 20:00 to 07:00 hours). Offenders are thought to be using unclassified roads and may utilise vehicles with a commercial livery. To tackle this high visibility night time patrols have been taking place on our area utilising as many uniformed staff as possible. Officers from the Neighbourhood policing Teams, Rural Crime Team and other departments supported by their supervisors have changed shifts to carry out targeted patrols through to 4.am and beyond. This Increase is not limited to our area or Wiltshire as a county, however we have suffered from this increase. Your Help is required! Please be vigilant particularly at night, and report anything suspicious no matter how small it may seem. If at all possible vehicle registration numbers should be recorded. If you think a crime is being or about to be committed then ring 999 For any other information ring the Wiltshire Police Non-Emergency line on 0845-408-7000 Farm Bulletin A very Happy New Year to you all and I hope that you have had a fantastic time over the festive season. Obviously the weather conditions are probably hampering you from getting on with the day job, but hopefully this will come to an end very soon. The year has got off to a slow start generally for the Rural Crime Team. But things are now starting to get busier. Landrover Defender Thefts We had a spate of Landrover Defender thefts back in October 2009 and at that time there were 8 stolen in one month. Then things went quiet again. There were two stolen in December and there have been three stolen thus far in January 2010. There is no pattern to the thefts and it is happening across the county. The Rural Crime Team are taking these on, and will be liaising with adjoining Forces to deal with the problem. Please ensure that you lock up your vehicles. For all the focus is predominately on Landrover Defenders there have been thefts of other 4 x 4 vehicles too. Hare Coursing Hare coursing incidents have slightly decreased on this time last year. There have been 20 reported incidents. There have been three offenders arrested on 27th December 2009, and they have been charged with Daytime Trespass in Pursuit of Game, and waiting to attend court. Credit Crunch Not surprisingly the credit crunch has lead to an increase from farms and rural areas. We have noticed in the north of the county an increase in thefts of Cotswold Stone. Across the county as a whole there have been several incidents reported of theft of bales of hay. Diesel and oil thefts are still occurring. To date in 2010 I am not aware of any, however the price of fuel is reported to steadily rise of the next twelve months and so we are expecting thefts of fuel to rise. There are alarm systems on the market for fuel tanks and if you want advice regarding these then can you contact the rural crime team inbox or leave a message and I will get the crime prevention officers to get in touch. Further to this we are receiving increased reports of Deer Poaching, unfortunately it tends to be after the event and there is the evidence of the poaching activity but the offenders are long gone. Metal Thefts We have seen a decline in metal thefts following some good arrests at the end of December 2009. This will no doubt start up again after the effects of the arrests have worn off. Keep sending in information regarding the suspicious vehicles/people etc, without this we don’t get a full picture of what is going on. Crime Prevention I have two Crime Prevention Officers in my department that are happy to come to your homes/farms etc and carry out security surveys. So if you do want any crime prevention advice can you send an e-mail to the rural crime team inbox: ruralcrimeteam@wiltshire.pnn.police.uk or leave a message on our voice mail 08454087000 x 723548. You may find the below advice useful regarding property marking. PROPERTY MARKING Every year police recover thousands and thousands of pounds worth of property from the hands of criminals. One of the biggest drawbacks in an investigation is trying to trace the owners of this property. Being able to trace the ownership of the property not only helps the owner to get the property back, but it can also provide evidence that is vital in securing convictions. There are several different ways of marking your property depending on the type of object you want to mark, and modern technology is introducing new and better systems all the time. Before marking any valuable items (those individually identified on your household insurance) check with your insurance company that they are happy for you to do so. What should you mark? Anything you would like to have returned to you be it valuable or sentimental. MARK IT – PROTECT IT Property Marking Solutions These solutions are a recent addition to the property marking field, and contain artificial DNA, UV, Micro dots, or a mixture of two or three of these elements. The clear solution is easily painted onto even small items of property, and the unique code is registered to you individually. Once dry the solution is only visible under UV light. When you have marked your property and registered your contact details on the company’s database, this makes the property traceable and identifiable to you and only you. Ultra Violet Pens Quick, easy and cheap, marking your property with your postcode and house number with a UV pen is one of the most popular ways of making your property identifiable. However, it is not suitable for small items, such as jewellery, and has to be checked every 12 months as it can fade, especially if exposed to heat or sunshine. Engraving/Etching Property can be engraved by using scribing pens, ceramic marking pens or electric hand engravers. Etching applies a unique reference number to your property using a chemical solution and stencil. Both of these methods are permanent and visible and can be used to mark china, glass, bikes (except high performance aluminum frames), lawnmowers, engines and other heavy metal objects. Stamping/Punching Stamping your postcode on sturdier items with a hammer and a set of punches is a permanent way of marking them. This method is especially suitable for tack MARKING YOUR PROPERTY MAKES IT TRACEABLE AND LESS ATTRACTIVE TO THIEVES WHICH EVER METHOD OF PROPERTY MARKING YOU USE LET THE CRIMINAL KNOW YOUR PROPERTY IS IDENTIFIABLE. Use the stickers that are supplied with a purchased product, or ask one of the Wiltshire Police Crime Prevention Officers for a poster. Immobilise Registering your property helps to combat the sale of stolen goods by alerting the second-hand trade of ownership through the unique markings you have on your property, the most common of which is the serial number. We recommend registering your property and details for free on the Immobilise website (http://www.immobilise.com). This website is used by police forces throughout the country to help identify the owners of lost or stolen goods. I hope you found this useful. I will be on leave for the next two weeks, so can you forward anything to the rural crime team inbox. A reminder of our contact details: PC Tony Miles: 0845 408 7000 ext 730819 or mobile: 07817689640 PC Mark Randle: 0845 408 7000 ext 724515 or mobile: 07952989999 PCSO John Bordiss: 0845 408 7000 ext 739817 or mobile: 07968942116 PS Andrea Faircloth: 0845 408 7000 ext 723421 or mobile: 07855265975 E-mail address ruralcrimeteam@wiltshire.pnn.police.uk If you want to leave a message on our voice mail telephone 08454087000 x 723548 Thank you again for all of your support, keep it up, and I will be in touch soon. PS 693 Andrea Faircloth

Poaching Poaching and hunting have traditionally been viewed by many people as a relatively harmless activity, with the subsequent impression that these crimes have little impact on the wider community. Some people tend to conjure up a fuzzy image of a wily countryman secretly outwitting the local landowner in order to take a couple of hares or a pheasant now and again for the family table. Unfortunately the truth is considerably more unpleasant. Such criminals will also threaten, intimidate and use violence against farmers and landowners who try to stop them and they will cause considerable damage to fencing and crops whilst engaging in their activities. In addition to this many of these criminals are connected to larger teams of burglars and thieves. Sometimes the hunters / poachers will steal items they come across themselves and other times they will pass the information on to other criminals that they know, thus encouraging more criminal activity into our area. Many of the animals which they hunt or chase will suffer traumatic and unnecessarily painful deaths or injuries and, in the case of coursing activity especially, considerable amounts of illegally obtained money changes hands between the participants. There is also some realistic potential for such criminals to steal certain types of dogs from local residents for future use in illegal hunting and associated activity. The vast majority of such criminals who we intercept and arrest do not come from Wiltshire and have no connection to the area, other than through their illegal hunting activity. These reasons are why Wiltshire Police have recently taken a particularly firm stance against such persons and we always seek to arrest and prosecute them where sufficient evidence exists. We will always aim to respond promptly to calls reporting such activity to us. We do not want these criminals to see our countryside as a soft touch for their various unlawful acts. Therefore, if you see any activity taking place at the time that you feel could be illegal hunting with dogs or poaching, then please report this to us on 999. Please contact PCSO John BORDISS at the Rural Crime Team for more information on Farm Watch and Horse Watch. Thank you and kind regards Sarah PC 2377 Sarah Watts Community Beat Manager Marlborough Rural West NPT Marlborough Police Station Tel 0845 408 7000