Farmer turns detective to track down tractor GPS thief

[Formatted]

Sad state of affairs that farmers have to act as vigilantes to get their equipment back

Farmer turns detective to track down tractor GPS thief - Farmers Weekly

A farmer turned detective and traced a rural thief believed to be responsible for the large-scale theft of high-value tractor global positioning system

www.fwi.co.uk

 

[ColinV6]

Good on them! Doing the job the police should have been doing.

 

[Formatted]

Good on them! Doing the job the police should have been doing.

Think many peoples first reaction to this will be what you're saying but the reality is it is proper sad. It's not just the lack of the police, its that the police we have now are over analysed in the court of public opinion so the process they have to go through to get stuff done is to long

 

[ColinV6]

Think many peoples first reaction to this will be what you're saying but the reality is it is proper sad. It's not just the lack of the police, its that the police we have now are over analysed in the court of public opinion so the process they have to go through to get stuff done is to long

It is sad indeed. However it’s also very easy to have a quick look around, and chuck the guy a crime reference no. So he can ring his insurance.
If the units had a tracker, then why didn’t the police act on this information?
While I like and highly respect the police, it seems that it’s drastically easier for them just to target people doing 10mph over the speed limit.

 

[PSQ]

If the police cared to bother their arses, they would have found his mobile number from neighbours / work colleagues (if applicable) etc, and obtained all of his call details and contacts from the service provider to tie into specific calls on specific dates the gear was nicked, to trace the chain from end to end and stamp on the feckers.

"Crime number", FFS...

 

[teslacoils]

Don't stop at a crime number. Know your rights when it comes to the officer dealing with it, written confirmation, the process, the updates. Tell them you need to fill in a needs assessment as you have been traumatised. Why hasn't victim support called you?

The farmer has supplied a suspect I presume - so why hasn't he been interviewed under caution? Have you been a victim before? Has it caused mental distress to you our your family?

There is a code of practice for victims of crime and you need to make them aware that you are fully aware of your rights; their obligations; and the process to complain. Because you can be sure the criminal does.

 

[unlacedgecko]

Don't stop at a crime number. Know your rights when it comes to the officer dealing with it, written confirmation, the process, the updates. Tell them you need to fill in a needs assessment as you have been traumatised. Why hasn't victim support called you?

The farmer has supplied a suspect I presume - so why hasn't he been interviewed under caution? Have you been a victim before? Has it caused mental distress to you our your family?

There is a code of practice for victims of crime and you need to make them aware that you are fully aware of your rights; their obligations; and the process to complain. Because you can be sure the criminal does.

And if the criminal doesn't there will be an army of civil servants (paid for by us, the taxpayer) who fall over themselves to ensure he is totally informed.

 

[teslacoils]

And if the criminal doesn't there will be an army of civil servants (paid for by us, the taxpayer) who fall over themselves to ensure he is totally informed.

Yup. A veritable army of "criminals lives matter" making sure they are one step ahead.

 

[brigadoon]

The farmer alerted Leicestershire Police and officers arrived at the scene at aboutv 9am the same morning. They could not find any lines of enquiry and issued a standard crime reference number.
...............
After Mr Preston had suffered the theft of GPS kit from his tractors on a previous occasion, he had installed tracking device on some of the domes. The small devices were purchased from Amazon for about £200 and included an app which allows users to trace their whereabouts.

Following the theft, the tracker devices were signalling on the app that the stolen domes were situated about 40 miles away, in the West Midlands.

There is something not adding up here - surely if the attending officers are told about the trackers the next question is "have you tried them?"

 

[wanton dwarf]

Think many peoples first reaction to this will be what you're saying but the reality is it is proper sad. It's not just the lack of the police, its that the police we have now are over analysed in the court of public opinion so the process they have to go through to get stuff done is to long

Maybe but I think the Police just are not bothered .. filled with those who want to Police the internet and cuddle Left wing protests against working people.

We had a break-in in winter .. the Police never go out of their cars .. left the crime scene at circa 4:00am for a dog team to come.

You could see where the criminals went in the snow mind .. the UK is unfortunately heading into a pointless state, paying taxes for "Services" which are practically none existent.

 

[Formatted]

Maybe but I think the Police just are not bothered .. filled with those who want to Police the internet and cuddle Left wing protests against working people.

My experience of the police is the exact opposite; want to do more but are tied up in legislation and red tape

 

[kiwi pom]

The farmer alerted Leicestershire Police and officers arrived at the scene at aboutv 9am the same morning. They could not find any lines of enquiry and issued a standard crime reference number.
...............
After Mr Preston had suffered the theft of GPS kit from his tractors on a previous occasion, he had installed tracking device on some of the domes. The small devices were purchased from Amazon for about £200 and included an app which allows users to trace their whereabouts.

Following the theft, the tracker devices were signalling on the app that the stolen domes were situated about 40 miles away, in the West Midlands.

There is something not adding up here - surely if the attending officers are told about the trackers the next question is "have you tried them?"

Yes it almost reads like Mr Preston didn't tell the police they had a tracker fitted and thought he'd do it himself. Despite having no procedures to follow and out numbering 'chummy' he still got away.

Shows how tricky these things are in the real world.

 

[Princess Pooper]

The farmer alerted Leicestershire Police and officers arrived at the scene at aboutv 9am the same morning. They could not find any lines of enquiry and issued a standard crime reference number.
...............
After Mr Preston had suffered the theft of GPS kit from his tractors on a previous occasion, he had installed tracking device on some of the domes. The small devices were purchased from Amazon for about £200 and included an app which allows users to trace their whereabouts.

Following the theft, the tracker devices were signalling on the app that the stolen domes were situated about 40 miles away, in the West Midlands.

There is something not adding up here - surely if the attending officers are told about the trackers the next question is "have you tried them?"

These are our contractors. The theft was the day after they'd been here silaging. Caused much amusement locally when they posted about it on FB that they had 'staked out the property and recovered the goods' - Mr Preston has hands like shovels and is built like the proverbial brick sh*thouse and has at least one staff member known to be very handy with his fists - they are a big outfit. I haven't heard the inside story but suspect that they were already at the West Midlands location before the police even turned up at their yard, , because their FB post said at the time they had recovered them by 9am.

 

[Cowabunga]

It is amazing that the police turned up so soon that first morning. I remember a colleague reporting a stolen tractor at a repair garage and it was five days before they turned up to 'investigate'.
I reported fly tipping to the non emergency number last Monday, pictures of which I posted on this forum, and the lady said that someone would be in touch within 48 hours. Not heard a dickey-bird from them yet. Or the County Council, who I also reported it to on-line through a dedicated page. Nothing. Nada.
Nothing after trespassers with their car drove through two of my fields the other week and let their dogs out to exercise in front of me in my tractor. When challenged the man, who was the passenger, cider bottle in hand claimed he had a right to be there and got aggressive and tried to climb into the tractor to thump me. I drove off and he tried to climb into the fertiliser spreader to get me through the back window, so I screwed the tractor round and threw him off sideways. All the while holding the bottle in his hand and bearing in mind the size of my tractor and height of the spreader, that took some doing. Eventually his girlfriend gathered the two dogs and she drove them out of the fields and up the road in front of me. I turned into the farmyard but she stopped and he came out shouting obscenities and threw the bottle at me through the open back window. Missed.
I did report them with their car number and someone did phone back to say that the chap was known to them, and that was it. Heard nothing more. My bet he was local, a painter and decorator and had just come off work and taken drugs and was swilling it down with strong cider.

I've had more issues with people during the lockdown than in the previous five years combined. Another two, not worthy of reporting, were when I was wilting second cut, some vile lazy idiot had taken his dog for a walk down our lane and had bagged his dogshite but left the bag right in the middle of the gateway. Then when I took the cows out one morning we passed an old bloke with a dog on a very wide piece of the road with a gateway right by him and as the last of the cows came past him I could see him berating my cowman who was following on a quad. As I went back down the road he stood in the middle with his walking stick raised to stop me and started ranting about the cows and how his dog was traumatised and so on. He again raised his stick and I just said "who the hell are you, haven't seen you here before. f**k off back to where you came from if you don't like it here" and drove off. I've seen him several times since and he doesn't look at me.

 

[Hooby Farmer]

Maybe but I think the Police just are not bothered .. filled with those who want to Police the internet and cuddle Left wing protests against working people.

We had a break-in in winter .. the Police never go out of their cars .. left the crime scene at circa 4:00am for a dog team to come.

You could see where the criminals went in the snow mind .. the UK is unfortunately heading into a pointless state, paying taxes for "Services" which are practically none existent.

My friend is in the police, recently he had to go to someones house because there was a complaint that one girl made a tik tok video about another girl.

 

[Cowabunga]

Police phoned back this morning, at last. It seems they have been exceptionally busy. Talking to local shopkeepers I can understand it, as they have never seen anything like it for shoplifting. It is out of control apparently, with whole families at it. I have come to the conclusion over this lockdown that there is an ever-rising tide of scum being bred and they are taking over.

 

[primmiemoo]

Police phoned back this morning, at last. It seems they have been exceptionally busy. Talking to local shopkeepers I can understand it, as they have never seen anything like it for shoplifting. It is out of control apparently, with whole families at it. I have come to the conclusion over this lockdown that there is an ever-rising tide of scum being bred and they are taking over.

Could the shopkeepers find the FB or Witter pages the scum use for boasting and egging each other on?

 

[Honest john]

Our last GPS theft.

The arse holes left the Pin coded domes alone.

 

[ED.D]

Had a break in a bit back and all I got was a crime number, local bobby stopped at the neighbours and promptly proclaimed it must have been an inside job! Have requested his presence twice now to discuss but he still hasn’t made it to see me face to face.

 

[teslacoils]

Had a break in a bit back and all I got was a crime number, local bobby stopped at the neighbours and promptly proclaimed it must have been an inside job! Have requested his presence twice now to discuss but he still hasn’t made it to see me face to face.

Sigh. I'd have his nutsack for a small purse for that behaviour.