Farmers urged to report thefts during high season
Police and rural leaders are urging those living and working on the land to report crime as the traditional spike in summer theft approaches.
FMG Insurance said its claims data showed January was when thieves set out to steal from rural properties.
And FMG manager advice services Stephen Cantwell said theft was the leading cause of farm contents claims.
‘‘In our experience lower value quad bikes are the most common stolen item on the farm. Quad theft typically happens at night, with the quad being taken from inside or near to the house or a farm building.
‘‘Thieves are not always opportunistic. Rural crime is a deliberate supply chain process, with criminals on the lookout for quads that they can easily resell.’’
FMG insured just over half of all New Zealand farmers and growers and it paid out $23.3 million nationally in burglary and theft claims over the past five years.
During that time, about 21 per cent of national burglary and theft claim costs were from the Waikato region and so were 25 per cent of national farm content theft claims. FMG paid out $4.9m in burglary and theft claims made in the Waikato region for the past five years.
Cantwell and police Inspector Brent Register spoke about rural crime prevention on the Federated Farmers ‘‘Fed Talks’’ podcast recently.
Colin Hurst, Federated Farmers board member and South Canterbury farmer, was also interviewed.
The panel agreed some rural people aren’t bothering to report crime.
‘‘We certainly know that people don’t report all of the crime in rural areas and there are certainly various reasons for that,’’ Register said.
‘‘But what I would say is reporting everything, dial 111 if something is happening and you can see it happening, report it by 105 if it’s something you’ve found the next day that is gone.
‘‘Look, if we don’t know the crime is happening, we can’t draw patterns, we can’t link criminals to extra crimes, and that’s often how we solve these things.’’
Register said police wanted details of all theft in rural areas.
Apart from quad bikes, portable gear like chainsaws and compressors were also top of the shopping list for thieves. Fuel was another one.
FMG said in 60 per cent of burglaries, entry was gained through an insecure window and if your neighbour had suffered a burglary recently, your chances of being burgled in the near future increase dramatically.
Cantwell said FMG ran a series of crime-prevention seminars with police and Federated Farmers in the Waikato last month.
‘‘If you’re going away, have a trusted neighbour, friend or family member regularly check in on your property.
‘‘Get them to clear your mailbox and entrances of mail, packages and junk mail.
‘‘If rubbish collections are operating in your area, ask them to put your rubbish out on your collection day. This approach is a good deterrent if thieves are scouting the area.
‘‘You could install automatic timer or sensor lighting around your property including at both the front and rear of your house.
‘‘Mount them high enough to prevent criminals from being able to remove the bulb or cover the sensor.’’
Police said it was important to record the serial numbers of property and items via the snap.org.nz website. It was the best way to identify stolen property and have it returned to the owner.
‘‘If we don’t know the crime is happening, we can’t draw patterns . . . and that’s often how we solve these things.’’ Inspector Brent Register