The Rise of Rural Crime: Machinery Theft 

The cost to own and run plant machinery and agricultural tools is incredibly high. These high-spec pieces of whirring metal are not cheap assets and are equally as valuable to the companies that use them. Such machinery completes huge jobs and tasks in small amounts of time in the most efficient way possible. Which is why, when stolen, a company will deal with more than just the loss of equipment, but profit losses and a loss of precious time too. 

In recent months and years, industries like the construction and agriculture sectors have seen a rise in the rates of machinery theft. A term coined ‘rural crime’ categorises this type of theft into crimes targeting rural areas of the country. Often where large organised crime groups target farms and rural businesses for their expensive tools and equipment out of working hours. 

Crime gangs targeting plant equipment and machinery 

As with many other types of theft, the criminals behind such acts are becoming smarter and hardened to the challenges of simple security measures. There have been reports of a higher number of crime gangs specifically ‘specialising’ in plant equipment and machinery theft, purposely targeting farms and construction sites for their valuable equipment. With their knowledge and experience in this type of crime these gangs have advanced to a point in which they can typically get away unseen, bypassing basic security tools like CCTV surveillance and high fencing. Therefore, in order to protect the plant equipment but also your business, it is worthwhile investing in more advanced security measures.

Trackers to immobilise and track plant equipment 

One way to stop these gangs in their tracks, while you may not be present on site, is to install a GPS tracking system. Specialist trackers like those we sell and install for plant equipment and machinery are not only able to provide 24/7 live location data of your machinery but can also be used to immobilise the machinery too. Any suspicious movement of the machinery, particularly at times when your business is out of hours, will create an alert to your mobile device from wherever you are. Allowing you to either immobilise the equipment or call the police and inform them of trespassers. 

In a bid to come down on these gangs of thieves, tracking devices are great tools and are able to prevent criminals from getting away with this costly crime on rural businesses. Plus, if thieves do manage to get away with any of your plant equipment or machinery, your tracker’s data can be handed over to the police in the hopes of retrieval.

To find out more about the plant equipment and machinery trackers we sell and install at FitMyTracker, do not hesitate to contact our highly experienced and knowledgeable team.