Protecting your rural property

2:00-3:00pm in the Symington Suite

James Higgins joins us from Police Scotland to offer sound, practical advice on how to protect your property and livestock. His presentation will be in two parts; firstly looking at crime prevention and farm security and secondly at protection of livestock.

In the first part, James will discuss the “onion peeling principle” – how to effectively layer security, and how and why thieves target certain locations. The overriding theme will be that security doesn’t have to come at a huge cost.

The second, short topic will be protection of livestock – improvements Police Scotland have made, campaigns they run and what evidence they look for in order to prosecute. The theme is a recognition that Police Scotland needs to improve, what they have done address issues, a recognition that they are continuously looking to develop, and the importance of evidence.

James has been with Police Scotland for nine years, mainly working in rural community policing. Since January 2016, he has been Community Safety Officer for Clydesdale, tasked with reducing crime in the area. Much of the focus of crime reduction is on improving farm safety and security. James regularly visits farms to provide routine security surveys, which have proven to reduce crime in rural Clydesdale.

Although based in Clydesdale, James has close links to National Safer Communities with contacts throughout the country to assist smallholders all over Scotland.

Full programme of events