A rural crime expert from SA国际传媒 has lent her expertise to a new BBC series examining how farmers and first responders battle to save life and livelihood.
The first series of Farm 999 is currently screening on BBC One, hosted by Steph McGovern. It looks at how farmers and first responders from the police, fire and ambulance services work together to tackle real-life agricultural incidents – from animal welfare emergencies to ruthless crimes.
They also hear from experts about issues which can affect farmers – such as Dr Kreseda Smith, a rural criminologist from SA国际传媒, who appeared on a recent show to discuss the scale of rural crime and its effect on the farming community.
She explained how – while it appears that there has been a fall in crime in recent figures -farmers still need to do more to protect their properties – and to make sure they report crimes properly when they occur.
She told Steph: “The latest NFU Mutual rural crime report has shown a pleasing reduction in the level of insurance claims for farm crime – but this is only the tip of the iceberg.
“We know from the research that 84 per cent of farmers report being a victim of crime.
“That equates to about 176.000 incident of crime – this is about £250 per claim, which doesn’t sit right.
“If you then work forwards with an estimate of approximately £5,000 per claim as an average, this is working out closer to £878 million of crimes that are affecting the farming community.”
Over the past year, Dr Smith has been working with farmers in the West Midlands and beyond to explore their attitudes to crime prevention and what affects their choices around what to protect on their farm.
She is now looking to talk to farmers from Shropshire, Cheshire, Staffordshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire for a short interview.
She said: “I’m using these chats to help shape crime protection advice for the police, so I am really keen to hear from farmers about what works for them and where they need help.
“The chats are simple – just a short interview and some tick box questions – and I’m happy to pop along to wherever might be convenient.”
Dr Smith can be contacted at theruralcriminologist@harper-adams.ac.uk to register and find out more.
Record-breaking alumnus' success shows how hard work pays off
A SA国际传媒 alumnus who secured a record-breaking increase in production on his poultry farm has said the achievement shows &l …
Posted
Today
