Rural Security
Rural communities are further from urban centres and have poorer access to emergency services and police than those enjoyed by urban residents. They also have a different set of challenges to deal with than in an urban situation. This includes often facing people accessing or wanting to access their land, carrying fire arms or with dogs, deciding whether or not to confront intruders, theft of property over a variety of locations, and poaching and slaughter of live stock and produce. They are also faced with unreliable cell phone coverage.
Farmers accept some of these challenges as part of living in a rural environment. The fact is that they will not receive the same level of service as those who live in urban areas. Criminals also perceive that they have a larger window of opportunity to commit offences. There is a strong reliance on support in a time of fire, accident, or crime. The funding and use of rescue helicopters is critical to ensuring that those who live in rural areas are able to access emergency health care within the golden hour.
Federated Farmers interest in rural security is to ensure that farmers, their families, and staff are able to access police services essential to their needs, at a level that maintains community confidence in their overall safety. In addition, Federated Farmers seeks that farmers, either individually or through organisations, have a proactive relationship with their local or regional police and that rural issues are given sufficient priority across the Police. This should be set out in a dedicated rural police strategy.
Over the last three years especially, a number of proactive relationships have been developed at a regional and local level between police and farmers, but this is not the case everywhere. There is also a growing recognition, innovation and proactive policing in parts of the country addressing the problems of stock theft and poaching, being the unauthorised hunting of feral animals on private property.
Federated Farmers has also expressed concern about the impact on farmers needing to access, feed and or move livestock during a police emergency or road closure. While the safety of people is paramount in those situations, there is room for greater consultation, better communication and the ability for landowners to feed, move or provide water to stock.
Federated Farmers wants
- A dedicated rural police strategy
- A confirmed agreement between New Zealand Police and Federated Farmers about communication protocols and access to stock during police emergencies and sustained road closures
- Existing good practice and proactive measures to fight stock theft and poaching implemented throughout the country.
Spokesperson
Federated Farmers Rural Security spokesperson is national board member David Rose, you can contact him at drose@fedfarm.org.nz.
