£25,000 of GPS equipment stolen from a farm in Dorset
Dorset Police have issued advice to prevent the crime
Dorset Police have issued a warning after a number of farms in Dorset have had their GPS units stolen from tractors.
There have been reports overnight on Monday 6th September in the area of Turnworth, Dorset of GPS domes stolen.
The incidents are being investigated by Dorset Police but the rural crime team would like to remind the public to remove the domes when they are not in use, lock them away out of sight, record the serial numbers and keep their location on a need to know basis. Do not make it easy for thieves to take these items.
If you saw anything suspicious around the area of Turnworth, Dorset between 20:30-08:30 and think it may be linked please get in contact with Dorset police quoting reference 55210144433.
How to prevent a theft:
Please follow these steps from Dorset Police to help secure your units:
- Remove all GPS guidance receivers, aerials, or antenna globe when not in use and keep them locked away in secure locked place when possible.
- If you not going to be using the GPS equipment for a while i.e. while on road work then please remove the dome as this is a moving advert for thieves and its even easier for them to locate you if you use sign written vehicles.
- Consider fitting security tethers or brackets to stop units being removed.
- Consider marking these with UV pen or engraving your postcode or forensic marking such as Datatag are all options to consider. Machines fitted and registered with certain security markings are 4 times less likely to be stolen and our 6 times more likely to be recovered if they are stolen.
- Store machinery inside locked barns if possible.
- Where locking machines away isn’t an option consider fitting mains or battery-operated alarms to outbuildings or around the perimeter of areas where machines are stored.
- If you are considering fitting CCTV then please consider fitting this as well as alarms as part of a system. CCTV cannot be relied on fully as this won’t alert you at the time that you have intruders.
- CCTV and intruder alarms will deter most thieves but make sure they are checked regularly to ensure they will work when you need them and they are placed in a position that won’t be triggered by animals or foliage moving in the wind.
- Record machinery serial numbers and photographs for reference. This will help police should they be stolen with press releases and social media appeals furthering the chances of the items being recovered.
- Encourage farm staff to be vigilant and report any suspicious behaviour or vehicles to the police. We don't know unless you tell us!
Do you own a John Deere tractor?
Owners of John Deere Starfire 6000 systems just to make you aware there is a new software version available. The new software enables the use of pin code protection to help secure these units.
All newly supplied by dealer Starfire 6000 units will come with the software update. The update renders the system useless without the pin protection. So please if you have the SF6000 system do enable the pin protection on it.
Please contact your local John Deere dealer if you have any doubts and they will be able to help and advise you about the best way to update this software.
They will also be able to supply a lockable bracket and pin protected sticker to reduce the chances of this being stolen.
Please contact Dorset Police by calling 101 or 999 for a crime in progress. Visit their website at www.dorset.police.uk or send an email 101@dorset.pnn.police.uk
If you wish to remain anonymous, please contact Crimestoppers Rural Crime Reporting Line by calling 0800 783 0137 or visiting http://www.ruralcrimereportingline.uk