British police say Brexit has made law enforcement more difficult in both Ireland and the UK. This problem is still not solved.
This is according to UK Police’s National Rural Crime Commander, Andy Huddleston.
He said Agriland That there were links between Irish rural crime and the United Kingdom due to “inextricable lines of robbery”, with “lines of criminal gangs that would run across Ireland to Northern Ireland, and from Ireland to the United Kingdom”.
“So in relation to Brexit, we were unable overnight to exchange information with Ireland from the UK regarding stolen property, which is the same thing we were unable to do with the rest of Europe,” Huddleston added.
For example, he pointed to machinery being transported from the UK to Ireland, and vice versa.
He added: “Therefore, it was shameful for both countries not to exchange information and data.”
While data sharing measures have improved since then, the Rural Crime Commander stressed that “it’s definitely not as good as it used to be”.
Andy Huddleston, speaking as part of the European Rural Crime Network panel at Maynooth University
Huddleston was speaking at the opening of the European Rural Crime Network (Erken) workshop at Maynooth University on Wednesday (17 June).
ERCN is a network of agricultural organisations, created collectively by and for the farming communities of Europe.
The network brings together rural crime prevention officers from national agricultural unions in all 27 EU member states and the UK in recognition that “rural crime is a transnational and economically motivated problem”.
She said the most effective response is one built on “shared knowledge, trust and cross-border relationships between farming communities working together.”
Rural crime and the bigger picture
Among the issues discussed at the workshop was the international nature of rural crime.
Historically, rural crime has been viewed as something “low-key,” Huddleston said.
“It was stealing a chainsaw or something from the shed, or maybe it was a quad bike, or maybe it was a motorcycle, or maybe it was a rabbit chase, something like that.
“This is not the case at all,” he said.
According to Huddleston, a large proportion of rural crime is “serious organized crime”.
The theft of high-value items, such as GPS units, has been linked to international crime.
He explained: “We have international organized crime groups targeting Ireland, targeting Northern Ireland, targeting the United Kingdom.
“These groups travel long distances and invest large sums of money to come and steal from our farms.”
Join the thinking
While countries and governments see borders and borders, criminal organizations often do not.
According to Huddleston, shared international thinking is “something we are not good at enough.”
At the ERCN workshop, the importance of sharing resources, data and information was a major theme.
“The situation is improving, and today’s inaugural meeting, where European countries are starting to come together, is absolutely necessary.
“It’s the key thing, the bedrock of what we need to do, which is to share that information, to work together, to share best practices, to listen to some of the things, even coming from further afield in South Africa, that we can learn from, and how we, as a coordinated and influential group, can begin to see those changes that we need,” Huddleston said.
One tool for this effort is academic research, which can provide data and insights to groups like ERCN.
This research “gives us the evidence to look at things differently and challenge, and really challenge the police on how we do things, but it also challenges everyone about asking how they do it and can we do it better.”
Huddleston added that the workshop was “about bringing people together.”
“It’s about realizing that we need to be more coordinated and we need groups like this to achieve that coordination,” the UK rural crime chief said.
