NSW Police rural crime: Police are taking stock of rural crime incidents and investigations

Almost 18 months after NSW Police injected extra resources into rural crime, officers say they're making headway, but stock and firearms theft, as well as trespass and illegal hunting, continue to give farmers and investigators the most trouble.

The data from January to July this year shows not only were 1686 head of stock stolen from rural properties, but landowners also reported 30 incidents of trespass and illegal hunting.

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The NSW Police Rural Crime Prevention Team has been in place since March 2018, with 42 officers and four civilian staff dedicated to limiting crime within the agricultural sector, with an additional 18 rural crime investigators to be added during the next three years.

While any police officer can take a report, rural crime investigators are specialised and provide expertise to their police district.

Orange, Bathurst and Mudgee each have one investigator attached, with an extra two in Dubbo and three in Parkes, with Bathurst to gain one more next year.

State rural crime co-ordinator Detective Inspector Cameron Whiteside said stock theft costs farmers millions of dollars every single year.

"In 2018, we had 20,000 individual head of stock stolen, worth $3.2 million," he said.

Western central zone co-ordinator Detective Sergeant Andrew McLean said sheep thefts had recently outnumbered cattle 10 to one.

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"They're just easier to round up - cattle are bigger and more difficult to manage," he said.

The number of stock thefts fell from 2017 levels, which included more than 22,000 sheep and cattle stolen, worth a combined $4.8 million.

Detective Inspector Whiteside said the drought had an impact on the decline, but the numbers were still considered fairly consistent and early reporting of stock theft was essential to recover the animals.

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"If you can narrow the window from the time they're stolen, it increases the opportunity to solve that crime and recover evidence," he said.

"The longer the delay, the longer the stock has to proceed to a sale yard or abattoir and eaten anywhere across the country or internationally."

Detective Inspector Whiteside said biggest piece of advice given to farmers is to "step outside the farm and think, if you were an offender, what would you take and how would you get it?"

"People think if you tighten your security, it will push it to the neighbouring property, but the reality is, if the neighbour does something, it's pushed further and further away."

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