Cockies urged to report rural crime as incidents rise
New data shows crime is shattering the tranquility of rural New Zealand but cockies says the scourge is worse than the figures show.
Last year farmers had to deal with a 20% increase in animal theft, 10.8% more illegal street racing, and a 7.8% bump in poaching, than the year before. Statistics obtained by Waikato Times reveal a significant increase in rural crime. Other than the regular break-ins, assaults and thefts, 2023 saw 2814 incidents of illegal car racing, 107 unlawful hunting reports and 75 animal thefts.
Federated Farmers rural policing spokesperson Richard McIntyre said poaching and animal thefts are particularly difficult problems for farming families.
“To have people wandering around with firearms, often in the middle of the night, it’s really disconcerting.”
McIntyre said illegal car racing endangers residents and livestock with a “marked overlap” between boy racer burnouts, dangerous driving, road and fence damage, and spooked livestock.
A Federated Farmers survey of more than 1000 farmers showed 67% experienced or suspected they had been the victim of a crime over the last two years. However, almost half of those had not reported it to police. The main reasons for under-reporting rural crime include farmers believing police were too stretched, they wouldn’t be interested in coming all the way from their station, or felt they lacked evidence for a specific crime.
Sometimes it takes days to discover stock or tools had been stolen as farmers won’t be using the tools or checking stock every day, McIntyre said.
A large proportion of national rural crime occurred in Waikato - 11.9% Robbery in rural Waikato almost tripled within the last 12 months - from 28 reports to 73, the rise is three times sharper than the national increase. McIntyre said the sharp rise is partly cost of living driven, and partly the general crime rate in the region.
Police said they are aware of rural crime and its complexity. In a first, police appointed a rural manager in 2022. Although they don’t have dedicated rural officers, 162 constabulary staff receive an allowance for “rural/isolation” postings. This is 1.5 out of every 100 constabulary staff. In Waikato the rate is slightly higher - 1.6 out of every 100.
However, response to rural crimes are coordinated with urban centres meaning rural residents had the same access to police resources.
McIntyre said farmers need to report every crime they experienced so police can see a clear trend and can allocate resources accordingly.
A mobile application called Rural Lookout was launched in May 2022 and is piloting in North Canterbury. McIntyre said the app made reporting easier, especially in areas where cell phone coverage is weak.
Police said the app had 3823 downloads and 492 reports submitted from it. Police are trailing another initiative in the region: A free security assessment and subsidy on security upgrades. To date, 162 assessments and 91 upgrades are under way.