ACT announces major crackdown on rural crime

Crime in rural New Zealand is out of control, and too many rural communities feel like they've been left to fend for themselves. Today, ACT is announcing a new Rural Crime Policy to restore law and order to the countryside.

ACT will:

•⁠ ⁠Fund Police to hire more officers for rural areas with a target of an additional 100,000 extra patrol hours each year, and establish a dedicated rural crime unit.

•⁠ ⁠Extend eligibility for Text 111 services to people in rural areas with unreliable mobile coverage, ensuring they can contact emergency services via text when a voice call drops out.

•⁠ ⁠Crack down on armed poachers and livestock rustling with increased penalties and strengthened offences.

•⁠ ⁠Strengthen the tools used between agencies for rural enforcement coordination.

Federated Farmers' latest Rural Crime Survey found 67% of farmers experienced crime, up from 41% in 2016.

“Talk to farmers, and you'll hear the same story. Illegal hunters are crossing private land. Livestock stolen or killed. Sheds broken into. Fuel and machinery are disappearing overnight. Meanwhile, police resources have been steadily pulled out of rural communities,” says ACT’s Agriculture spokesperson Andrew Hoggard.

“When people stop reporting crime because they don't believe anything will happen, that's a sign the system isn't working.

“Criminals target rural people because they’re isolated. Our policy takes that out of the equation, with more police presence, connectivity and harsher deterrents.”

ACT Rural Communities spokesperson Mark Cameron says: “When criminals know the nearest police car is miles away, they are emboldened. It is no surprise that nearly half of farmers do not even bother reporting incidents to the police, and of those who do, only 15% see the offender investigated and prosecuted.”

“Farmers deserve the same protection and peace of mind as anyone living in a city. Rural New Zealand helps feed the country and drive our economy. The least the government can do is make sure the people who live and work there feel safe in their own homes and on their own land. ACT will ensure the justice system treats rural crime with the seriousness it deserves, and put police back on the rural beat,” says Mr Hoggard.

"ACT is proud to be rural New Zealand’s authentic voice in parliament. When every other party sold rural New Zealand out with the Zero Carbon Act, ACT stood alone against it and kept campaigning to keep agriculture out of the ETS. We've achieved that in Government, we're making property rights the focus of the RMA, we've gotten rid of Labour's anti-farming policies like the ute tax, winter grazing rules and overzealous freshwater farm plans."