Officers across North Herefordshire today took part in Operation Jetwing, following a recent rise in theft and burglary.
Operation Jetwing saw local Safer Neighbourhood Teams (SNT), our Operational Policing Unit (OPU) and the Rural and Business Crime teams focussing on crime detection and prevention of agriculture machinery and trailers in Leominster, Kington and the roads and villages in between.
Herefordshire has seen a slight rise in the theft of commercial equipment such as trailers over the last few months. Industrial trailers are most commonly used by businesses and farming, with the average value around £5,000 each. Once stolen, they’re sold very quickly on social media marketplaces and through established group chats.
Sergeant Nicola Holgate said: “Organised Crime Groups (OCGs) are behind the vast majority of these thefts, stealing from farms and homes in Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire. As well as their other criminal interests stolen plant machinery forms a significant part of their operations.
“Today’s operation was invaluable in reassuring the public and local businesses that we are stopping vehicles, checking they are not stolen and checking that all vehicles are roadworthy and legal. It also gave us an opportunity to pass along some crime prevention advice, check on people’s welfare and engage with our hard working community about the issues that matter to them. Life and work is a challenge for us all, and for the farming community days like today when its -9 degrees to lose specialist equipment may mean losing livestock and livelihoods.
“Herefordshire, like much of West Mercia, is very rural and farming is at the heart of this county. For many farmers, signing up to Neighbourhood Matters, We Don’t Buy Crime and receiving new SmartWater equipment will give them some peace of mind while we continue actively preventing and detecting those responsible for crimes which impact the farming and business community beyond just the cost of lost equipment.”
