Property Crime Victimisation and Crime Prevention on Farms Report to the New South Wales Attorney General’s Crime Prevention Division By Elaine Barclay, Institute for Rural Futures, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales Joseph F. Donnermeyer, Department of Human and Community Resource Development, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, and Brendan P. Doyle and Dominic Talary, Institute for Rural Futures, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales. THE INSTITUTE FOR RURAL FUTURES INCORPORATING THE FORMER RURAL DEVELOPMENT CENTRE University of New England Armidale, NSW 2351 2001 Ó The Institute for Rural Futures, 2001 Property crime victimisation and crime prevention on farms: report to the New South Wales Attorney General's Crime Prevention Division. Bibliography. Includes index. ISBN 1 86389 776 3. 1. Rural crimes - New South Wales. 2. Farmers - Crimes against - New South Wales. 3. Crime prevention - New South Wales. I. Barclay, Elaine. II. New South Wales. Attorney General's Dept. Crime Prevention Division. III. University of New England. Institute for Rural Futures. 364.08863 IRF Publication No. 00-2 ii Acknowledgments The research that forms the subject of this report has been supported by a grant from the New South Wales Attorney General's Crime Prevention Division. The views expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are not necessarily those of the funding body. Our sincere appreciation goes to Mr John Warre, Mr Bernie O'Sullivan and Mr Joe Lane of the New South Wales Farmers Association for their support on the original submission for funding, for their advice on the survey design and for a review of this draft. We are particularly grateful Superintendent Stephen Bradshaw of New South Wales Police for his support and guidance throughout this project. Other officers who have also guided this research include Detective Sergeant Peter Nunn, coordinator of Operation Nicaragua, Inspector Peter Torning, and Detective Sergeants Bob Drew and John Peters of Armidale Local Area Command. Our special thanks goes to all those farmers for their participation in the mail survey and the interviews we conducted. Thank you also to those police officers, magistrates, stock and station agents and other industry personnel who also participated in interviews. We would like to thank our colleagues at the Institute for Rural Futures for their advice on drafts of this report. Special thanks to Jean Harris for her assistance in the preparation of this report. All errors and omissions remain the responsibility of the authors. iii Contents Acknowledgments .................................................................................... (i) CHAPTER ONE – INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Summary of Research Priorities .................................................................. 2 1.3 Structure of the Report................................................................................. 3 CHAPTER TWO – BACKGROUND 2.1 Introduction................................................................................................... 5 2.2 Agriculture in Australia ................................................................................. 5 2.2.1 The cropping industry...................................................................... 5 2.2.2 Horticulture ...................................................................................... 6 2.2.3 Livestock industry............................................................................ 7 2.3 Property Crimes on Farms........................................................................... 9 2.3.1 Theft............................................................................................... 10 2.3.2 Other types of crime ...................................................................... 12 2.4 Agricultural Crime Statistics ....................................................................... 14 2.4.1 Official recorded crime data .......................................................... 14 2.5 Factors Affecting the Policing of Agricultural Crime................................... 15 2.5.1 Policing crime within the livestock industry ................................... 16 2.6 Legislation .................................................................................................. 17 2.7 Summary .................................................................................................... 20 CHAPTER THREE – RESEARCH IN AGRICULTURAL CRIME 3.1 Introduction................................................................................................. 21 3.2 History of Agricultural Crime ...................................................................... 21 3.3 Current Issues in Australia......................................................................... 22 3.4 Research in Agricultural Crime .................................................................. 24 3.4.1 Australian research ....................................................................... 24 3.4.2 Overseas research ........................................................................ 26 3.5 Rationale for this Research........................................................................ 29 3.6 Summary.................................................................................................... 30 CHAPTER FOUR – METHODOLOGY 4.1 Introduction................................................................................................. 31 4.2 The Mail Survey ......................................................................................... 31 4.3 The Analysis............................................................................................... 32 4.3.1 Unit of analysis.............................................................................. 32 4.3.2 Statistical analyses........................................................................ 34 4.4 The Interviews............................................................................................ 34 4.4.1 Interviews with farmers ................................................................. 34 4.4.2 Interviews with police officers ....................................................... 34 4.4.3 Interviews with various other professionals .................................. 35 4.5 Summary.................................................................................................... 35 iv CHAPTER FIVE – PROFILE OF THE SAMPLE 5.1 Introduction................................................................................................. 37 5.1.1 Farm operators.............................................................................. 37 5.2 Farm Operations ........................................................................................ 38 5.2.1 Property size ................................................................................. 38 5.2.2 Commercial agricultural production .............................................. 39 5.2.3 Livestock ....................................................................................... 40 5.2.4 Cropping........................................................................................ 41 5.3 Farm Ecology ............................................................................................. 43 5.3.1 Farm layout ................................................................................... 43 5.3.2 Surveillance................................................................................... 45 5.3.3 Proximity of the property to public roads ...................................... 46 5.3.4 Terrain........................................................................................... 46 5.4 Summary.................................................................................................... 48 CHAPTER SIX – VICTIMISATION 6.1 Introduction................................................................................................. 49 6.2 Overview of Victimisation........................................................................... 49 6.2.1 Incidences of crime ....................................................................... 49 6.2.2 Mapping crime............................................................................... 49 6.3 Victimisation over Lifetime and Past Two Years........................................ 53 6.4 Victimisation over Six Property Types ....................................................... 55 6.5 Individual Victimisation Experience............................................................ 57 6.5.1 Livestock theft ............................................................................... 57 6.5.2 Theft of tools, machinery and equipment...................................... 60 6.5.3 Theft of wool.................................................................................. 62 6.5.4 Other theft ..................................................................................... 62 6.5.5 Fraud............................................................................................. 62 6.5.6 Break and enter............................................................................. 63 6.5.7 Illegal trespassers and shooters ................................................... 63 6.5.8 Discovery of drugs ........................................................................ 66 6.6 Financial Losses .......................................................................................