Farmers who have experienced minor thefts don't even bother to report the crimes. They see no use in doing so. However they are being robbed of their profit as well. It's all pointing to the direction that we're not yet capable of limiting these kinds of crimes, and that we're maybe even allowing them to happen. Andrej Turk, a farmer from Brod v Podbočju, says thieves are stealing everything, from technical appliances to farm produce. He is convinced that Roma people, who sometimes picked things from the fields for food, aren't the only ones. Farmers are dealing with larger-scale thefts now. Turk says it’s a case of organized crime and that someone is making profits. But a lack of produce isn't the only loss farmers have to deal with. Thieves sometimes damage or even destroy their greenhouses and irrigation systems, causing much greater damage than just stealing goods.
Marjan Jurečič, a farmer from Veliko Mraševo, also notices a growing number of thefts and adds: »Years ago villains used to carry away large quantities of watermelon. More than 20 tonnes in one year. So we don't dare grow watermelon anymore. But then we have other produce like peppers, cucumbers, beans… last year they managed to take away 300 kilograms. The most recent large theft was last weekend. We were left without 500 kilograms of young potatoes. Not to mention that they also stole our irrigation system's diesel engine.«

Davorin Simončič's farm in Veliko Mraševo hasn't witnessed larger thefts, but has experienced other forms of damage. Simončič says: »Yes, last time they destroyed 12 of our tires. 6 were tractor tires and they even destroyed the tires on our van. We also had an iron pipe through the window of our living room. It happened the same day when they punctured our tires. I have no idea who could have done that. I've got no camera, no photographs, and I didn't see the perpetrators. I do suspect though that it was someone from nearby. Someone who knows exactly where I am and when I come home.«
Preparing from even bigger thefts
Because of the thefts farmers are also being robbed of their profits. Marjan Jurečič complains: »My calculations, right from the top of my head, say we have anywhere from 5 to 10 thousand euros of damage per year. There was one season some years ago when we did document and report almost every theft. The German mark was still in circulation at that time and we put our damage at 22 thousand German marks. Now we only report larger thefts. Reporting minor crimes is just a waste of time. The police has to come, write a report, inspect the scene, and usually nothing comes out of it.«
Farmer Andrej Turk also says they've lost hope and adds: »In the past we really did use to report more of the crimes, but we were never successful. They only registered us as if we were the criminals, so then we stopped. We are thinking about the possibility of setting up village patrols to start protecting ourselves, however I'm not sure where all that will lead to. The traffic signs which have been erected and ban vehicles from driving on field paths aren't enough. The police doesn't intervene, or better said, it isn't present enough.«
The thefts usually take place during the night or in the early morning hours. Often they also happen in the middle of the day. The Krško branch of the Novo Mesto Agriculture and Forestry Institute also notices an increase in farm thefts; however its field experts are powerless. Viktor Kožar, the head of the Krško branch, confirms that responsibility lies in the hands of the law enforcement authorities. Thinking aloud he says: »Thefts really are on the rise. We notice that ourselves out on the field and they are happening on a larger scale. I could say that we're dealing with a form of crime, because somebody can't just steal so much only for himself. The affected farmers are already thinking of other ways of protection. I also see that as a possible solution, maybe also be hiring professional security agencies.«
The police assures that there are no signs of organized crime
The Novo Mesto police station assures that there hasn't been a surge in farm thefts i.e. reported thefts, compared to previous years. If a report is filed on time the police says it does manage to find the perpetrators and return the stolen goods to their owners. They have established though that more damage, than the theft itself, is being done on the infrastructure. Robert Perc, the head of the Operational Communication Center at the Novo Mesto police station says: »With regards to the comments that we aren't present enough on field paths, allow me to say that our police is adapting to the problem both with tactics and methodology. We therefore do occasionally send patrols to those areas, including police officers on horseback. We deal with about ten cases of thefts of farm produce in the precinct of the Novo Mesto police. The most troublesome areas are Novo Mesto, Šentjernej and Krško. I'd also like to point out that in cooperation with the victims, that is in those cases when reports are filed on time, the efficiency of the police increases and we do manage to detain many of the perpetrators on the scene.«
The police hasn't noticed any signs of organized crime. This is how Mr. Perc bases his assumption: »We're mostly dealing with individual cases, occasionally with return offenders or suspects already known to us from the past. We haven't encountered any cases that would be connected to organized crime.«