“Use technology to fight rural crime" says Graham Colley

Graham Colley Lib Dem candidate for Police and Crime Commissioner for Kent says
“Use technology to fight rural crime.”

Graham Colley, LibDem candidate for Police and Crime Commissioner for Kent advocates looking at "new solutions for old problems" for criminal problems in Kent.
• Kent is severely affected by rural crime, more so than any other region in the UK. (Tufin, 2019)
• The cost of rural crime, which includes damage and theft of farming equipment and livestock, amounted to approximately £2,659,000 in Kent last year.
• This represents a 74.3% increase compared to 2017, while the overall UK experienced only a 12% rise. (Tufin, 2019)
• More recent figures show the continued increase in rural crime NFU mutual NFU mutual (NFU Mutual, 2023)
• whilst most of the population of Kent lives in urban areas 85% of Kent’s land is classified as rural (Kent County Council, 2021) and there are over 2700 farms/smallholdings in the county.

If elected, Graham Colley would be an advocate for the use of cutting-edge technology to help fight rural crime. Whilst many farmers embrace new technology some rural communities may, perhaps, be less willing to adopt it.

He believes that the Police and Crime Commissioner for Kent should lead the way in promoting such technology to fight, perhaps, one of the oldest crimes-rural theft, which must go back as far as farming itself.

From drones, CCTV, smart monitoring systems and night-vision cameras, he believes surveillance technology could be the aid that helps farms and rural businesses minimise/reduce rural crime.

Many town centres in Kent have CCTV cameras to keep an eye on what is happening. But outside of those areas and on private farming land it will take a combination of advice from the NFU (National Farming Union), insurance advice from insurers, NFU Mutual, local authorities and Kent Police.

Graham Colley cites the example of motor theft. At one time, car radios were particularly at risk and “hot wiring" was a method to steal cars. Nowadays, electronic keys, alarms and tracking systems have reduced such car crime substantially.

Graham Colley believes the same can help in relation to rural crime. All manufacturers of farming equipment should be required to ensure they have tracking security devices.

Graham knows there will be an inadequate police budget to deal with rural crime. Graham said, "If elected, within the monies made available to me as Police and Crime Commissioner for Kent, I would work to use these to cooperate with local authorities, the NFU (National Farmers Union) and the farmers’ insurer NFU Mutual, to work to ensure that farmers understand the benefits of technology and protecting their assets."

Works Cited

Kent County Council. (2021). Population and census. Retrieved from www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-council/information-and-data/facts-and-figures-about-Kent/population-and-census
NFU Mutual. (2023). Rural Crime Report 2023. Retrieved from www.nfumutual.co.uk/farming/rural-crime/
Tufin, R. (2019, 08 2019). Rural crime hits Kent worse than anywhere else in UK. Retrieved from Kent online: premium.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/fear-of-crime-is-changing-life-in-the-countryside-209774/