5 minute read
Harvesting relationships
Editorial: Danielle Ford
Photography: Jesse Wray-McCann and Bliss David
With more than 11 million hectares of land in Victoria dedicated to agriculture — about half the state’s total area — there’s a lot of opportunity for farm-based criminal activity.
And it’s criminal activity with the potential to have far-reaching impacts — from loss of stock, machinery and income to illegal hunting and serious activism and biosecurity risks.
With such a big area of opportunity, it takes a connected, coordinated response from Victoria Police to stay on top of crime impacting the agricultural industry.
This response is led by the Farm Crime Coordination Unit (FCCU), a dedicated unit that targets farm crime by monitoring crime trends and patterns, collecting intelligence and working with local police and the community to proactively and reactively address issues.
Inspector Paul Hargreaves (pictured below) heads the unit in a role that combines his 30-plus years of regional policing experience with his farming background.
“My parents owned a farm when I was young and, even though they sold it and I spent years away, I always had an interest in farming,” Insp Hargreaves said.
“I purchased my own land in northeast Victoria where I run beef cattle and a few sheep — the sheep were purchased to train my kelpie.”
Insp Hargreaves works alongside farm crime analyst Sophie Kempf, who monitors and investigates farm-based crime themes that impact the farming community across the state.
Insp Hargreaves said many people thought of farm crime only as the theft of livestock, but the umbrella term also covers the theft of machinery, fuel and firearms, activism at farms, illegal hunting, and serious biosecurity offences committed by trespassers.
“Farming is a way of life, often running deep in family history, so the unlawful entry to farms, loss of livestock or machinery, has a significant impact on farmers,” he said.
As police servicing a rural area, we must be connected and in tune with what matters in rural communities.
“It is important that we use our background knowledge and strong relationships to produce better outcomes for the agriculture sector, whether that be in the prevention of crime or the identification of offenders."
Working alongside the FCCU are Victoria Police’s Farm Crime Liaison Officers (FCLOs), who are based at stations or crime investigation units across the state.
Their role includes keeping an ear to the ground for farm crime trends in their area, assisting other police when farm crimes are reported, and liaising with the agricultural community to share crime prevention advice.
Like Insp Hargreaves, the majority of FCLOs have a background in the agricultural industry.
“Whether it’s being farmers themselves, having been stock agents, we’ve got some who have worked in abattoirs, worked with horses, sheep shearers and more,” he said.
“There’s a wide range of industry knowledge among our FCLOs. They are our local farm crime experts, and they understand their local communities and the complexities regarding farm crime in their areas.”
Sergeant Jo Geddes (pictured below) is one such FCLO with a foothold in both policing and farming.
Sgt Geddes and her husband run a dairy farm near Orbost in East Gippsland.
“We run about 300 head of cattle and supply milk to Bega Cheese,” Sgt Geddes said.
“I’ve also been a police officer since 2005, stationed in Orbost since 2008, so out here I’m rather entrenched in both worlds.”
Sgt Geddes said this dual position in the community — Jo the farmer and Jo the police officer — gives her access to information that isn’t always reported to police.
Our farmers in rural communities are often our ‘neighbourhood watch’,” she said.
“They notice things when they change, and they are the ones up getting cows in, harvesting grain, repairing equipment or dealing with a sick animal at all hours of the day.
“I go to a lot of industry events, whether as a farmer or a police officer, and just through general conversation you hear about things that just aren’t reported to us because it’s often seen as low importance in the scheme of the whole farm operation.”
Sgt Geddes recalls an investigation a few years ago, when Mallacoota Leading Senior Constable Gavin Murphy, then working as the only police officer at Omeo, heard about small numbers of cattle going missing from local farms.
“Gavin asked around his farming connections and found there were several other farms in the Omeo patch that also noted a few of their cattle missing,” she said.
“Between a few FCLOs, local members and detectives, he was able to identify several farms from the East Gippsland area, each with no more than five cattle stolen.
“Gavin used this information to form an investigation and discovered that a criminal group was travelling around and taking a few cattle from different farms. They ended up stealing about a truckload that they then attempted to sell off.”
Sgt Geddes said without the strong farming connections FCLOs have in their areas, these thieves could have continued stealing cattle, causing greater financial loss for the region’s farmers.
“But it’s not just the crime prevention and investigation that’s important, it’s the personal connection and help we can provide to farmers,” she said.
After the devastating bushfires that decimated Victoria’s east in 2019-20, Sgt Geddes remembers the FCLO network pulling together to get feed to impacted farmers in the Orbost area.
“If we want farmers to be comfortable and confident to report crimes to us, it’s so important for us to build trust within the farming community,” Sgt Geddes said.
“The easiest way to do that is to show up and show them that we’re here, we’re a part of their community and give them confidence that we can help them when they need us.”
