Farm Crime: The Forgotten Frontier?

Crime devastates lives and communities: not only in cities, but in remote settings, provincial towns, smaller urbanised regional areas and on the urban fringe. Offending on farming sites has, regrettably, been hitherto a largely forgotten frontier of crime but one that warrants considerable further attention, not least because of the financial implications for farming communities but also for its sociological impacts.
This chapter will pursue pertinent issues in relation to farm crime, examining the types of thefts from farms, and the reluctance of some communities to report different types of crime. It will draw upon primary interviews conducted with Victoria Police members (interviews with author November 2013), and survey data collected between October 2013 and September 2014 (Victorian Farm Crime Survey 2014). The role and effectiveness of Victoria Police’s Agricultural Liaison Officers will be considered, challenges for contemporary rural policing explored, and how to address ingrained reticence in country communities to report crime, seek assistance when needed and overcome fear.