3 minute read
Weeding out country crime
Editorial: Danielle Ford
Photography: Yuri Kouzmin
Years chasing down dangerous criminals in the city gave Detective Leading Senior Constable Jason Hare plenty of opportunity to finely tune his investigative skills.
Those skills, honed during his time at the Melbourne Crime Investigation Unit (CIU), are now used to help farmers in the Campaspe area protect their livestock, equipment and biosecurity.
Det Ldg Sen Const Hare (pictured below) arrived at Campaspe CIU in 2008 when he left the city to return to his hometown of Cohuna to help his father run the family farm.
“I always knew I’d eventually come back and take it over — it has now been in the family for four generations,” he said.
Now, as the local Farm Crime Liaison Officer (FCLO), Det Ldg Sen Const Hare has built a reputation as the go-to person when something seems amiss in the agricultural industry.
“I always say to farmers and agents, even if it’s one cow, one sheep, one piece of machinery or a single tool that’s gone missing, report it to us, because if it was jewellery of similar value they would certainly report it,” he said.
“The more intelligence we have coming in, the higher the chances are of us picking up on crime trends, locating offenders and ultimately keeping properties and livelihoods safe.”
Det Ldg Sen Const Hare saw the damaging and ongoing impacts of farm crime firsthand when the theft and illegal sale of three heifers in the Campaspe area in 2017 caused the area to be excluded from overseas export due to the discovery of the insect-borne bluetongue virus (BTV).
“Two men had stolen the heifers from somewhere up north and brought them into Victoria,” he said.
“They then cut the old (identification) tag off their ears and replaced them with their own tag and put them up for sale at the live export market.
“When the heifers were tested before export, they were found to have BTV. At the time, Victoria was classified as free of the disease.
“The men claimed they had bred the heifers on their farm down here, not wanting to be caught for the theft of them, and this caused a major biosecurity incident because this meant the area was no longer BTV free.”
Due to this incident, a significant exclusion zone was implemented in the area surrounding where the cattle were held.
This initially impacted the sale of cattle from the area, however, following surveillance and investigation by the relevant agency, the interim BTV status was removed.
“For them, it was about making a bit of extra money quickly, but their actions have had long-term impacts on the wider farming community here,” he said.
“That investigation took months and we worked very closely with Agriculture Victoria to ensure the two men were charged for their reckless actions.”
In addition to investigating crimes, Det Ldg Sen Const Hare is also focused on helping farmers to avoid becoming victims of crime.
“When I’m giving presentations to farmers, I like to give little tips like putting something like nail polish, paint or even an engraving on all your tools so if they ever go missing, there’s something about them that makes them identifiable,” he said.
“With how many other things farmers are focusing on, I know how important it is to make any crime prevention tips simple.
“I tell people all the time it’s the little things, like taking a few photos of your workshop or factory each month, so that if something does go missing, we can use those images to give us a timeframe of when they were stolen.”
