the essential
Suffering from theft and malicious acts, farmers expressed their anger to representatives of the gendarmerie during a meeting organized by the MSA and the town hall of Saint-Pierre, east of Haute-Garonne.
It is a recurring phenomenon: farmers are increasingly victims of theft and incivility. This was the purpose of the meeting organized in the village of Saint-Pierre, east of Toulouse, by the MSA (Mutualité sociale agricole), in the presence of farmers from the canton, the mayor Pierrette Jarnole, but also representatives of the gendarmerie and the mutual insurance company, in particular Philippe Castelle, professional risk prevention advisor for the MSA.
“Farmers use technological means which often arouse the interest of delinquents. The GPS which equips tractors today, for example, sells for between €500 and €1,000 on the black market,” explains chief warrant officer Stéphane Prono.
“The objective is to anticipate”
He adds: “It is not a question of putting up walls or installing barbed wire, but of implementing measures to ensure the peace of mind of operators. The objective is to anticipate, carry out prevention and awareness”. Install motion detection lighting, equip yourself with video surveillance, shape the relief around buildings, limit open facades, install locking devices, protect fuel tanks, make machines identifiable… There are many possible measures, but not always sufficient to appease the anger of operators.
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“I get up every day at 6am to earn my living. I can’t imagine anyone coming to steal my earnings. You know, the farming world is more tense today than before,” an angry farmer fumes. Added to this is the problem of city dwellers idealising a pseudo-tranquility in a territory they are investing in, not being able to stand the noise of the harvests, or even the crowing of the rooster, sometimes generating violent conflicts.
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“Do not hesitate to report suspicious people or vehicles to us by dialing 17. Operators are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,” says Captain Christophe Duval, head of the Balma brigade community. Stéphane Prono adds: “It’s not denunciation, but the reporting of information.” Communication necessary to allow the 1,260 gendarmes deployed in Haute-Garonne to intervene quickly. “The goal is to act upstream, in order to dissuade offenders from carrying out the act,” insists the security referent.
