By Mitchell Clarke
A new policing unit aimed at tackling farm crime will see 70 new Farm Crime Liaison Officers monitor and respond to crime trends and patterns occurring within farming communities.
Despite farm crime only representing less than one percent of all offending across the state, the impact is being felt by rural and regional communities.
In the year to 30 March 2019, almost 3600 farm-related thefts were recorded, with power tools, livestock and electrical appliances among the top items stolen.
The Farm Crime Coordination Unit will strengthen the work already undertaken by Agricultural Liaison Officers (AGLOs), working closely with farming and agricultural communities.
“We’ve listened to the increased concerns in rural communities and we’ve acted,” Minister for Police Lisa Neville said.
“The new Farm Crime Coordination Unit will help centralise Victoria Police’s response to farm crime, while also ensuring the continued presence of Farm Crime Liaison Officers across the state.
“We take this type of offending very seriously – the theft of equipment or livestock can have a huge operational impact on our farmers, on top of the financial burden.”
Minister for Agriculture Jaclyn Symes welcomed the unit which will be led by Inspector Karl Curran.
“Farm crime is costly and damages farmers and rural communities, I welcome the dedicated unit to further respond to and prevent these crimes to help maintain the prosperity of our vital agricultural sector,” Ms Symes said.
But Eastern Victoria MP Melina Bath said the announcement was merely a rebranding of AGLOs and wouldn’t offer any additional resources.
“Instead of public relations opportunities and rhetoric from the state government we need additional resources dedicated to farm crime and animal activism, so hard working police officers are able to execute a timely response,” Ms Bath said.
“It is abundantly clear that the number of operational police able to respond to farm crime is inadequate to provide a satisfactory level of policing, despite the best efforts of our existing officers.”
Shadow Minister for Agriculture Peter Walsh said the announcement fell well short of what farmers were calling for.
“Daniel Andrews has once against demonstrated why he is the Premier for Melbourne, failing to properly tackle worsening rural crime and protect our farmers,” Mr Walsh said.
