COMMANDING officer for the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s (JCF) Agricultural Protection Branch (APB) Senior Superintendent Oral Pascoe, says recent changes to Jamaica’s praedial larceny laws are beginning to pay off, with tougher penalties and more robust enforcement helping to disrupt the illegal trade in stolen agricultural produce.

Speaking on the JCF’s Force4Good podcast on Sunday, Pascoe said amendments to key pieces of legislation, coupled with more consistent policing since the APB was established last June, have strengthened the force’s ability to target agricultural thieves, recover stolen produce and secure convictions.

He argued that while many of the laws had existed for years, they were not being enforced consistently enough to have the desired impact.

“So the Fisheries Act 2018, the amendment to the Agricultural Produce Act, which deals with the receipt book system, that’s 2024 December… The amendment to the Praedial Larceny Prevention Act, and the consequential amendment to other Acts, like raising the fine on praedial larceny, raising the timeline, the sentencing, and including other penalties, those were done basically last year. And these Acts have been on the books for years, but the issue was that they weren’t being enforced consistently enough,” Pascoe said.

The amendments to the Praedial Larceny Prevention Act increased fines and prison terms for offenders, while changes to the Agricultural Produce Act strengthened requirements for the documentation of produce being bought and sold through a receipt book system aimed at improving traceability.

The reforms formed part of a broader push to curb the long-standing problem of agricultural theft, which has cost farmers millions of dollars annually and threatened food security.

Pascoe said the APB has already begun seeing encouraging results, pointing to a reduction in reported cases compared with previous years, the recovery of stolen produce, and hundreds of convictions during the first half of this year. He also attributed the progress to growing confidence among farmers that their reports will be acted upon.

“We have recovered over $9 million in terms of agriculture produce. So farmers who lost produce we would have recovered it and returned it to those farmers. That is significant, and that is caused by the confidence in the persons to report to the police, to know that when they report, the police will respond and take them serious,” he said.

Pascoe added that the APB has made approximately 780 arrests this year for agricultural-related offences, while a further 600 arrests for non-agricultural offences during operations brought the total number of arrests made by the branch in the first six months of the year to over 1,300.

Inspector Robert Robinson, head of the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s (JCF) Area Five Agricultural Protection Branch Unit, speaks during the JCF’s Force4Good podcast. (Source: JCF Youtube Channel)

Pascoe added that the APB has also maintained a high conviction rate, recording 480 convictions so far this year.

He also highlighted the National Animal Identification and Traceability System (NAITS) as a key tool supporting the strengthened legislative and enforcement framework against praedial larceny.

He said the tagging system, which allows cattle to be traced to their owners and requires documentation for their movement, has made it significantly more difficult for stolen livestock to be transported and sold, helping to curb one of the country’s most persistent forms of agricultural theft.

“Just imagine someone stole 70 cattle and they weren’t tagged…When the police stop them on the roads, the police require a passport, and require the tags that they must match, and it’s connected to an owner. Now if you steal a cattle, you have to get a tag, so you have a dilemma there, instantly,” he expressed.

Meanwhile, head of the Area Five APB Unit Inspector Robert Robinson said legislative changes have been matched by operational changes designed to make it more difficult for stolen produce to reach consumers.

“The changes in legislation bring about greater enforcement needs, and we have created strategic systems in place based on all the various regulations, the fisheries regulation, the agricultural regulation, the public health regulation. We are seeking to limit persons taking these stolen items, stolen produce to the markets. Once we can limit them getting to the market, there won’t be a need for a person to engage in these illegal activities,” Robinson said.

He said investigators are also making greater use of their powers to target those profiting from agricultural theft.

“We’re also seeking to go by the Proceeds of Crime Act to seize their assets and the assets of their loved ones once we get our information, intelligence, and to conduct a robust investigation to tie all of these into one picture… once we find any evidence, we will be seizing their assets and locking them down for a very long time,” Robinson said.