An announcement by New South Wales Police to create Rural Crime Prevention Teams across regional parts of the state is being welcomed, with hopes the specialised units will prevent crimes from happening in the first place.
The new teams will work throughout northern, southern, and central NSW and will be overseen by the state's Rural Crime Coordinator.
NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said the structure would see new positions specialising in the area and would bolster efforts to prevent rural crime.
"The new detective inspector's position, along with seven other coordinators across NSW, will bolster our rural crime response to 42 officers," Commissioner Fuller said.
"But this will be the first time it puts a detective inspector in charge of the rural crime problem in NSW and with intelligence, the ability [not only] to solve crimes but prevent them."
The model aims to renew focus on community engagement and stem the rates of stock theft, trespass, and illegal hunting.
Figures from NSW Police show that from January to May this year, 1,717 cattle were reported stolen with an estimated worth of more than $1.8 million.
Mudgee cattle farmer Hugh Bateman had $50,000 worth of machinery, including a slasher, a quad bike, tools and seven guns stolen several years ago.
He welcomed the announcement of the new teams and said the focus on crime prevention would help combat a growing problem.
"Police in our towns and rural communities are trained to do specific tasks and when you have this sort of thing happening, you probably do need a specialist team," Mr Bateman said.
"I think it's fantastic. Setting up a specialist squad or specialist team to combat this sort of theft is a great idea."
The teams will be coordinated by three detective sergeants and a detective inspector who will focus on investigation and prevention.
Deputy Commissioner Regional NSW Field Operations, Gary Worboys, said the new approach would be statewide and would see analysis, information, and intelligence shared across the regions.
"The new structure, for the first time, sees senior police officers in charge of clusters," he said.
"Detective inspector [and] detective sergeants at the top of the state, in the bottom, and in the centre part of the state [with] four new investigators to compliment the 34 that we already have.
"The team structure is not just about investigation but also about community engagement [and] also about rural crime prevention."
