Frustration would now force farmers to take the law into their own hands, he said.
“There is a lot of naivety in rural communities and one of these days something will happen because we can’t take this anymore.
“We have big businesses with millions of dollars invested and we don’t need these miserable sods making our lives a misery,” Leferink said.
He was referring in particular to the recent spate of cow thefts in Mid Canterbury.
“The Government has run down police way too low in rural areas, leaving them hugely under-resourced. So what to do?”
Growing methamphetamine (P) use escalated the problem and was of serious concern to vulnerable farming communities.
“Yes, it’s true, we know our communities better than anyone but for the police to follow-up what we know is frustratingly slow and often just doesn’t happen.
“To start, it takes three days to get a search warrant – a lot can happen in that time.
“In the criminal world (of Mid Canterbury) it’s just a handful of people. Police know them and we need to deal with them,” Leferink said.
He was aware of “quite a lot of information” in relation to Mid Canterbury’s spate of cow thefts that for whatever reason appeared to have fallen through the cracks.
“We know there’s information that could have been very useful but it just didn’t seem to get anywhere but I don’t blame the local police, well not 100%, for that.
“In the criminal world (of Mid Canterbury) it’s just a handful of people. Police know them and we need to deal with them.”
Willy Leferink
Farmer
“It does come back to the lack of resources and that issue is way further up the food chain.”
Coupled with the cow thefts was the drug culture.
“For rural communities, particularly the dairy industry, that’s a serious underlying current.”
Leferink said the corporate farming model posed greater risk for farming businesses.
“I can see this will happen again and it’s more likely to happen in corporate farming because the owners and shareholders put their trust in their farm managers.”
Leferink encouraged farmers to microchip their cows because the NAIT system clearly had loopholes when it came to theft.
He also urged farmers to have just one-gate entry to their properties with no farm entry off the tanker track and to install security systems.
“There’s good technology out there with very effective systems available.
“We have to do this for ourselves if we want to crack the criminal element.”
Police strongly urged farmers to review their business practices and auditing processes to give them reassurance and mitigate any potential risk.
It was also a reminder for employers to thoroughly check all potential employees’ references and backgrounds before hiring.
That was particularly important when employing staff who might have a direct role in day-to-day business operations or finances, Ashburton police Senior Sergeant Scott Banfield said.
