New Police unit focuses on agricultural equipment theft

A new Police unit was launched last week with a focus on countering the theft of agricultural and construction equipment.

The ACE Intelligence Unit will be based within the OPAL unit at West Mercia Police, the national intelligence unit for Serious Organised Acquisitive Crime. It has active support from Deputy Chief Constables Amanda Blakeman (Gwent) and Deborah Ford (Northumbria), who lead on acquisitive crime and rural crime, respectively, for the National Police Chiefs’ Council.

Some members of the ACE unit are already in place and others are being recruited. They will work with a network of contacts in Police forces across the UK, as well as with other national units such as NaVCIS (the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service), and with a range of partners from across the agricultural and construction sectors. This will include working closely with the team behind the CESAR security marking system, which the AEA co-owns with the Construction Equipment Association (CEA).

The unit will be funded by donations from several insurance companies, with contributions from the AEA and the CEA (taken from CESAR royalties). Other co-funders are also being sought.

Once the ACE unit is fully up and running later in the year, there will be a public launch event but the work of the unit will begin straight away.