Petworth farmer calls on Sussex Police to set up rural crime task force following farm thefts

Mark Chandler from Moor Farm in Petworth, who is chairman of the West Sussex National Farmers Union, said the cost to the farmers affected would add up to around a quarter of a million pounds.

He believes these were targeted thefts carried out by organised criminal gangs.

SEE MORE: GPS tractor equipment worth £130,000 stolen from farms in Chichester area

“They knew what they were after,” he said. “They left high value tools behind. It’s not the sort of stuff you sell at a car boot sale.”

The GPS kits are used to steer and control tractors with up to 1cm of accuracy, to ensure – for example – that there is no overlapping when it comes to planting seeds.

They can cost around £30,000 and losing them, along with all the technical data they store, is an ‘absolute nightmare’ for farmers, he said.

Mr Chandler said Sussex Police currently has only one designated officer to deal with rural crime in the whole county, adding: “The workload is horrendous.”

For the last three years or so, he has been calling for a rural crime task force to be set up.

“Sussex is one of the only counties in the UK which has not got one, which is really frustrating,” he said, adding that they are making ‘a real difference’ elsewhere.

He said farms like his were hit ‘at least once a month’ with crime of one sort or another – from flytipping to crop damage.

He added: “We’ve been broken into three times in the last four years. We’re just under siege really.”

Both the MPs for the area, Gillian Keegan and Andrew Griffiths, were supportive of the idea of a rural crime task force, as was the police and crime commissioner Katy Bourne, Mr Chandler said.

He wants whoever is next appointed to the role of chief constable to ensure that creating a rural crime task force is ‘at the very top of the agenda’.

Sussex Police said: “We recognise the unique challenges facing the farming community and have always had a network of specialist officers to deal with this.

“Thanks to recent investment, this summer we will strengthen our existing rural crime team further with more police officers dedicated to serving and protecting rural communities.”

SEE MORE: GPS tractor equipment worth £130,000 stolen from farms in Chichester area