A Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) report has stated that agricultural crime rates have continued to fall in the last 12 months.
There were 355 agricultural crimes recorded in Northern Ireland, a fall of 7.6% on the previous 12
months and continuing the downward trend seen since 2010/11.
The report contained the following statistics:
- 97% of agriculture crime was identified as occurring in rural settlement areas;
- Agriculture crime represented 1.4% of all burglary, robbery and theft offences;
- Five policing districts showed a fall in levels of agricultural crime, with six policing districts showing
increases.
Image source: PSNI
The info-graphic above shows the downward trend of levels of agricultural crime with 937 cases of agricultural crime recorded in 2010/11.
Image source: PSNI
The info-graphic shown above here shows crime trends in six month intervals with the winter months on the whole being the more common period for recordings of rural crime incidents.
Area crime levels
The highest levels of agricultural crime were seen in the Newry, Down and Mourne area where there were 54 incidents.
This was a drop of 10 on the previous year’s figure.
The next highest was in Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon which had 49 incidents followed by Mid Ulster with 48 recorded incidents, Causeway Coast and Glens with 46, Fermanagh and Omagh on 44 with Derry and Strabane and Mid and East Antrim recording 30 incidents apiece.
The Antrim and Newtownabbey area saw the biggest fall in agricultural crimes having gone from 40 incidents to just 18 in the last 12 months.
