Disrupting rural crime: A few handy tips from our team

Before we hit the Christmas day chaos it really is a pretty good time to pay attention and evaluate your on-farm security measures and help curb rural crime.

Paramount to preventing rural crime is your organisation, awareness and communication in order to keep your farm safe and prevent loss. Here are some key tips to remember to help eliminate your farm as a hotspot for holiday criminal activity.

1. Organisation

Use Agrimap to make records of whether equipment has been moved to a new location. This ensures that someone is accountable and that the whereabouts of all equipment is known.

2. Tasks

Assign tasks to different staff so they can help you with the securing all of the buildings and gates before you leave for your holiday. This way you can check your device and know whether Steve actually did lock the woolshed.

This goes for all the buildings, gates (especially if this is connected to a public road), and vehicles. Ensure you know the whereabouts of all keys and that they are secure.

3. Valuables

Keep records of all stock and whether it is clearly tagged, and that all important equipment, personal items and valuables (especially serial numbers) are recorded and accessible in a heartbeat.

4. Security-Savvy

Sensor lights, security stickers, alarms and even fake cameras are also great theft deterrents. Placing dogs near fuel tanks or buildings is also a great idea to ensure those assets are protected.

5. Awareness

Use those eagle eyes to survey anything that may be out of the ordinary, such as a dodgy-looking vehicle lurking around. Even this type of behaviour can be reported to the police; because it is important that they are able to establish any patterns of strange behaviour in the area in case theft does occur. Any descriptions of peculiar behaviour or important details such as licence plate numbers are handy too.

6. Communication

Tell your neighbours about your holiday plans. You can help each other out if someone is away by checking on the property, and sharing information about any strange behaviour.

A reliable, (if not nosy!) neighbour is also great for collecting mail and even switching a light on to make it look like someone is home. This is especially important if you are away for an extended period of time and can’t find anyone to housesit.

A recent rural New Zealand study showed that just under two thirds of farmers failed to report their livestock stolen to the police in the last five years. If rural theft unfortunately does occur on your property, you must alert police.

This is crucial to build intelligence around the rural theft occurring in your area, and to prevent it from happening to anyone else.

Happy Holidays!

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