TheftStop can thwart agri thefts

FARMERS from all over the county have been encouraged to participate in the TheftStop crime theft initiative being rolled out by the IFA and the Garda Siochána.

The scheme – to be officially launched in the New Year – is open to farmers and will provide them with an individual number that they can stencil and engrave onto their farm machinery.

Gardai have strongly advised farmers to embrace the initiative that should make it a lot harder for thieves to dispose of stolen trailers and machinery.

The marking will also make it far easier for owners to be linked up with stolen machinery found by Gardai in different parts of the country.

Galway Garda Crime Prevention Officer, Sergeant Pat Flanagan, told the Farming Tribune, that the scheme should act as a serious deterrent for thieves ‘on the look out’ to steal from farmyards.

“There are a number of distinctive identification marks that can be put on the machinery with stencils, paint and metal engraving – it will make it far more difficult for thieves to move on these type of goods,” said Sgt. Flanagan.

He said that farmers could sign up to the scheme by getting online at www.theftstop.ie adding that the project had been successfully piloted in a number of other counties.

Galway IFA Chairman, Pat Murphy, said that the scheme would be officially launched in the New Year at county level by the IFA but in the meantime he encouraged as many farmers as possible to sign up.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.