Liam McNally
The first national study into farm crime in two decades is underway, and farmers in Melton and Moorabool are being encouraged to provide their insights.
University of New England (UNE) Centre for Rural Criminology co-director Alistair Harkness, one of the researchers behind the survey, said that there isn’t a sufficient national picture of information on farm crime policing, prevention and farmers’ attitudes towards those things.
“Farm crime is a real scourge and needs to be taken seriously – it’s highly impactful for people socially and communities economically,” he said.
“By completing the survey farmers will be contributing to a very clear understanding of all the issues related to farm crime, and this will lead to positive changes in terms of policy and practice.”
Moorabool farmer and Victorian Farmers Federation president Scott Young said locals should jump on board with the survey.
“Over the past 10 years or so there’s been a significant amount of crime across the shire, a lot of the time the farm crime goes unreported… We need to change farmers’ view of that and get them to report any crime so police have a clearer picture,” he said.
Victoria Police Farm Crime Coordination Unit inspector Paul Hargreaves agreed that farm crime is underreported, and that the most common form of farm crime is theft, with livestock the biggest target, along with diesel and machinery.
He said that it is common to talk to farmers in the community who will mention a crime, but then say they didn’t report it.
“I spoke to someone a couple of weeks ago who hinted that 300 sheep had gone missing and it wasn’t the first time. At the time they hadn’t reported it,” he said.
Inspector Hargreaves said a big reason crime is underreported for livestock is the time it can take to realise animal numbers are down, but farmers also may lack accessibility to police, be time-poor, or not bother reporting because they think the crime won’t get solved.
“Ideally we want people to report all crimes… we need to understand the full picture to understand how to address that,” he said.
“Any survey that identifies any shortcomings in rural crime in general is a benefit to us, we’re keen to hear from the public,” he said.
The farm crime survey can be completed online.
Details: unesurveys.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_barMN4RDkQtl0O2
