Crime tip-off line goes rural

Stock and equipment are being stolen to order, chief executive Jude Mannion told Rural News.  “So rather than just the random, ad hoc theft, we are hearing of organised theft.  When that’s going on someone always know something.”

The first-ever rural campaign, by Crimestoppers, to encourage people to anonymously report crime or suspicious activity (freephone 0800 555111) has been launched. They pass the police a tip-off within 3-4 minutes.

“If you don’t think something looks right or feels right then call it in,” says Mannion.

Crimestoppers’ campaign ‘Shut the gate on rural crime’ is backed by rural insurer FMG and New Zealand Post to give rural people greater confidence to speak up.

“Some people call the police and we are happy for them to do so where possible. But sometimes people don’t want to be involved with police, they want to remain anonymous,” Mannion says.

“We’ve known for many years that people in the rural sector will look the other way if they lose a bit of livestock, or machinery or equipment. But the numbers of those thefts are gearing up because some pretty professional crime operations are moving in, they are far more organised.

“When people call us, we let the police know within about 4-5 minutes. It adds to their intelligence picture. 

So if someone is thinking of calling us and they are not sure if they’ve got all the facts or whether there is a crime being committed, that doesn’t matter. It will add to the bigger picture of intelligence. 

“We wanted to do the campaign to say to people ‘your call will count’.”

Mannion says FMG is paying for the campaign. “It was good to have a partner which could financially support us and they were on board as soon as we asked.”  

NZ Post is also backing the campaign with the delivery of publicity material. All rural households should be now receiving ‘It’s your call’ stickers for their properties.

Mannion says the campaign was not in response to any particular type of crime. 

“Whatever the crime – cattle rustling, equipment theft, a drugs operation or manufacture, family violence, drunk driving – if it’s illegal and you want it to stop but you don’t want to be the contact person that’s ok, here’s another avenue.”

Already about 35% of calls to Crimestoppers’ freephone number come from rural areas. It gets about 1500 calls and secure online reports a month, steadily increasing since it launched in late 2009.

General manager of advice and insurance for FMG, Conrad Wilkshire, says farmers are installing security cameras and forming Neighbourhood Support groups.  Crimestoppers further helps protect rural communities from the financial loss, disruption and invasion of privacy caused by crime, he says.

Assistant police commissioner Grant Nicholls says police prefer people to talk to them first “but if for whatever reason they don’t want to do that, we’re encouraging them to pass on what they know to Crimestoppers”.

To contact Crimestoppers anonymously, call 0800 555 111 or use the secure online form at www.crimestoppers-nz.org