During 2020, 2,172 agricultural crime incidents occurred, compared to 1,481 incidents that occurred in 2019 • 35% of farmers do not report crime incidents
Hives looted and vandalized
Photo:
Inon Arkin
A report by the Hashomer Hahadash organization, published here for the first time, reveals a disturbing increase in agricultural crime over the past year - 2020.
Photo: Police Spokeswoman
According to the report, which will be presented today at the Israel Today conference on agricultural crime, 2,172 agricultural crime incidents occurred during 2020, compared to 1,481 incidents that occurred in 2019. The numbers reflect a sharp increase of 46.6%.
However, 58% of farmers Indicates that they have suffered from agricultural crime in the past year, compared to 67% of farmers in 2019. This means that although fewer farms suffered from agricultural crime, in farms that suffered more such crime occurred during the year - which may indicate a focus of crime on certain farms.
The data also show that a farm suffered an average of 12.1 incidents of agricultural crime during the year, and that there is a significant difference between the various branches of agriculture.
A farmer in the field crops industry suffered an average of 23.1 incidents of agricultural crime per year, while the average beekeeper suffered "only" from 2.25 incidents of agricultural crime per year.
Most incidents of agricultural crime (59%) are thefts - both of agricultural produce and of agricultural equipment.
The direct damage from the incidents of agricultural crime is estimated at NIS 23.5 million in 2020 - an increase of 10% from 2019.
One of the most troubling issues is the farmers' sense of security and the degree of their cooperation with the police.
As the data show, about 35% of farmers do not report incidents of agricultural crime to the police, with the main reasons emerging from the survey being a lack of trust in the police and a lack of treatment in the reports.
An interesting fact is that the main reason why farmers report incidents to the police is "for insurance."
This is a disturbing trend, since in 2019 only about 20% of farmers did not report incidents of agricultural crime to the police.
Mordechai Haddad, from Moshav Eitan, told the report's editors: "Once upon a time, it was possible to leave a tractor in the yard with a key in the switch.
Today we need dogs, chains, guards and cameras - and yet it does not always help. "The
police responded to the report and the data in it:" This is a trending article, as the data presented in it are incorrect and far from reality and the data we have. "Almost 20% of the cases opened in the last two years have already matured into an indictment, some ended in a conditional settlement in the appropriate cases, some have unfortunately not been resolved, and some are still under active police investigation or have already been referred for review and decision."
