Country Crime Fighters Awards 2013

The Country Crime Fighters Awards 2013 is hoping to uncover the best:

- Individual Crime Fighter/Innovation Award
- Local Bobby Award
- Community Scheme Award
- NFU Mutual Agent Award

Each award category has a cash prize of £1,000 up for grabs to help fund anti-crime initiatives.

1. Individual Crime Fighter/Innovation Award

Are you, or do you know of an individual whose actions have made a positive and substantial difference to crime levels in their local community? Have you or they come up with an original and exciting way to fight countryside crime or are you or they simply committed to keeping the community safe?

Enter or nominate an Individual Crime Fighter today and they could win £1,000 to help fund local initiatives.

2. Local Bobby Award

Is your Local Bobby the very best on the block? Have they been serving your community for years or has one particular event made you realise just how hard they work to prevent rural crime?

Enter or nominate a Local Bobby today and they could win £1,000 to help fund local initiatives.

3. Community Scheme Award

Do you know of, or are you part of a community or group that has worked hard to reduce local crime? Has one specific crime prevention scheme united your local community and do you feel safer as a result?

Enter or nominate a Community Scheme today and the initiative could win £1,000 to help fund local initiatives.

4. NFU Mutual Agent Award

Do you know of an NFU Mutual Agent who regularly goes out of their way to offer fantastic service and support? Are you aware of an Agent who provides fantastic anti-crime advice?

Enter or nominate an Agent today and they could win £1,000 to help fund local initiatives.

Meet our authoritative panel of judges for the Country Crime Fighters Awards 2013 who will review all entries before announcing the overall winners on 14/06/2013.

Richard Percy

Richard was appointed Chairman of NFU Mutual in January 2012. He joined the Mutual Board in 2003 and became Vice Chairman in 2008. Richard has also held a number of roles at the National Farmers Union. He is a lifelong farmer in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

Clive Harris  

With a wealth of engineering experience, Clive Harris was appointed Agricultural Vehicle Executive in May 2011. He has worked for NFU Mutual for the last six years having previously worked within the vehicle industry. Clive’s role involves raising awareness of farm safety internally and externally as well as supporting the reduction of rural crime.

DC Chris Ruff

For the last two years, DC Chris Ruff has been the coordinating officer for the joint police and insurance industry initiative to reduce agricultural vehicle crime. With a background in vehicle crime investigation, Chris has worked alongside NFU Mutual claims staff in the insurer's own offices to enhance detection rates of stolen farm machinery both in and out of the UK.

Nick Turner

Nick Turner is NFU Mutual’s Sales and Agency Director having joined the company in January 2013. With a background in insurance and Wealth Management, his career stretches back more than 27 years. His role as a Country Crime Fighters’ judge will be to help select those NFU Mutual Agents that go beyond the confines of their everyday role to help tackle rural crime in their local community.

Individual Crime Fighter/Innovation Award

Winner: Gordon Roach, Gloucestershire

Mr Roach successfully set up the Winstone Neighbourhood Watch and was rewarded for his continued involvement in local crime reduction activity. Mr Roach provides regular local crime alerts, organises crime awareness evenings and worked closely with local police to introduce a new property marking initiative using traceable SmartWater to tag desirable items.

Runner up: Landywatch

Community Scheme Award

Winner: Wear and Tees Farm Watch, County Durham

Members of the Wear and Tees Farm Watch use a ring round system to alert each other to suspicious activity and provide regular patrols of the local area in conjunction with local constabularies. The scheme has assisted over 20 prosecutions, and in one operation alone helped recover over £40,000 of stolen property. The scheme continues to boost morale in the Wear and Tees area, with local butchers even providing cost price dinners before patrols so that members can eat together as a community.

Runner up: Cambridgeshire Countryside Watch

Local Bobby Award

Winner: Special Constable Susan Holliday and Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) Tracy Watt, Brampton, Carlisle

The two police officers have implemented Farm Watch schemes in the Brampton area, and worked on a quad bike tagging programme for farmers, which led to several stolen quads being recovered locally and across the UK.

Runner up: PC Darren Read

NFU Mutual Agent Award

Winner: Paul Bennett, Bridport

Paul Bennett implemented the ‘Stop that Thief’ campaign which allows farmers to source security devices at a much reduced rate. From administering the formation of the committee to setting up the bank account, Mr Bennett‘s promotion of the scheme has seen its membership grow to over 100.  The judges were also impressed with how Mr Bennett had achieved a joint campaign with local farmers and the police, inviting them to attend meetings and offer anti-theft advice.

Runner up: Murray White

National Farmers Union Mutual Insurance Society Limited’s terms and conditions for the Country Crime Fighters Awards (“Terms and Conditions”)

1. This competition is open to residents in the United Kingdom who are aged 18 or over, except that:

1. employees or Agents of NFU Mutual or any group company of NFU Mutual or any member of their family may only enter the ‘Community Scheme Award’ and / or the ‘Best Agent’ Award or put forward a nomination for an Award;
2. any supplier of NFU Mutual (including any employee and/or agent of that supplier) who is  connected to or has any professional association with this competition may only enter the ‘Community Scheme Award’ or ‘Best Agent’ category or put forward a nomination for an Award;
3. any judge appointed to judge this competition or any member of their family may not enter this competition or put forward any nomination for an Award.

2. Entrants do not need to be a customer of NFU Mutual in order to enter the competition and no purchase is necessary.

3. By submitting an entry, entrants:

1. warrant that they have the legal capacity to enter into the competition and agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions and any associated entry requirements (the “Terms and Conditions”). NFU Mutual reserves the right to exclude entrants and/or withhold prizes where an entrant does not meet the eligibility criteria set out in these Terms and Conditions and / or for any other failure to comply with these Terms and Conditions;
2. consent and grant permission to NFU Mutual to use details of their entry in NFU Mutual’s promotional activities and agree that they may be required to participate in publicity associated with the competition. This publicity may, amongst other things, include the winners’ names and county of residence being made publicly available if they win; and
3. are deemed to accept these Terms and Conditions and agree to be bound by them.

4. To enter the competition simply complete the online entry form and follow the instructions. Only one entry per category per individual is permitted.

5. NFU Mutual, its Agents and/or subcontractors accept no responsibility whatsoever for incorrectly completed, lost or delayed entries or for any technical failure or malfunction or any other problem with any server, internet access, system or otherwise which may result in any entry being lost or not properly registered or recorded. Proof of sending is not proof of receipt.

6. There will be four Award categories as follows: (i) the Individual Crime Fighter/Innovation Award; (ii) the Local Bobby Award, (iii) the Community Award; and (iv) the NFU Mutual Agent Award. There shall be one winner for each category. The winners of each category will get £1,000 as recognition for their anti-crime initiatives in their local area; this payment is made in good faith in the hope it will help to further fund anti-crime initiatives the winner is involved in. NFU Mutual is not responsible for how that funding is used.

7. Entries to the competition will be accepted from 04/04/2013 through to midnight on the 31/05/2013. Short listed entrants will be notified by 05/06/2013 and invited to attend the prize giving ceremony. The winner of each Award category shall be chosen by an independent panel of judges and named at the ceremony on 14/06/2013. Any entries submitted before or after these entry dates (as the case may be) will not be considered. No entries will be returned to entrants so entrants are advised to keep a copy of their submission.

8. The competition winners will be presented their prize in person at the ceremony on 14/06/2013 All entrants are advised to enter their contact details correctly to ensure that NFU Mutual is able to contact them. Prizes are awarded conditionally upon acceptance. If short listed entrants are unable to attend the prize giving ceremony, they must inform NFU Mutual when contacted; this will not affect their eligibility to win a prize. Any winners unable to attend the ceremony will receive their prize by 31/07/2013 at the latest.

9. The names and counties of the winners will be available online shortly after the prize giving ceremony at www.nfumutual.co.uk/crimefighters.

10. The decision regarding the competition winners is final and no correspondence will be entered into. Unsuccessful entrants will not be contacted.

11. Entrants’ data will be collected, held and processed by NFU Mutual in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 for the purposes of administering this competition and for any other purpose outlined in these Terms and Conditions.  Please see NFU Mutual’s Privacy Policy.

12. Entrants are prohibited from submitting entries that (i) infringe, or will cause NFU Mutual to infringe, the intellectual property rights (or other rights) of any third party, or which include the personal information of any third party; or (ii) contain material that is unlawful, obscene, defamatory, libellous, threatening, pornographic, harassing, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive, or encourages conduct that would be considered a criminal offence, give rise to civil liability, breach any law, or is otherwise inappropriate. NFU Mutual reserves the right to automatically disqualify any such entries.

13. Entries submitted electronically shall be free from any viruses, locking devices or other disruptive or potentially damaging programs or devices ("Viruses"). Entrants shall be liable for any loss or damage caused to NFU Mutual from any viruses in any entry. 

14. NFU Mutual reserves the right to (i) suspend, withdraw or amend this competition including changing or substituting the prizes; and (ii) review and revise these Terms and Conditions in whole or in part at any time without prior notice or compensation to entrants and entrants will be deemed to have agreed to such new or amended terms. NFU Mutual further reserves the right to cancel this competition at any stage, if deemed necessary in its sole opinion, if circumstances arise outside of its control.

15. NFU Mutual accepts no liability if any entrant fails to comply with these Terms and Conditions. All entrants agree to indemnify NFU Mutual against any claim(s) by any third party to the extent that such claim results from or in connection with any breach of these Terms and Conditions by the entrant.

16. If any provision of these Terms and Conditions is held invalid by any law, rule, order or determination of any court of a competent jurisdiction, such invalidity shall not affect the enforceability of any other provision not held to be invalid.

17. These rules are governed by the laws of England and Wales and participants agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

18. Nothing contained in these Terms and Conditions shall constitute any financial or any other type of commitment on the part of NFU Mutual to support any of the entrants’ initiatives, schemes or causes in the future.

19. Copies of these Terms and Conditions are available on request.

20. Promoter: The National Farmers Union Mutual Insurance Society Limited (“NFU Mutual”) (Company Number 111982) whose registered office is at Tiddington Road, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, CV37 7BJ.