Rural crime investigators and Oxley police meet locals in Barraba about illegal hunting, stock theft

That's the message from the local rural crime prevention team who have hit the ground running again, in a series of community meetings that kicked off this week.

Barraba was chosen - and Manilla is the next cab off the rank - because of the illegal hunting and rural crime issues that have plagued the area.

Twenty-five locals met at the Barraba Bowling Club to talk illegal hunting, stock theft, firearm security and other rural crime issues.

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Police will never tell a landholder how to farm their property, but they will tell them how to secure it, Detective Inspector Cameron Whiteside told the Leader.

"There might be 25 there but they will go back and talk to their neighbours or their spouses about it, and then it goes on from there, and while the bush telegraph works against us at times, this is about dispelling some myths," he said.

The team shared tips and tricks about crime scene preservation, drone use and firearm security, as well as the identifiers police look for in an investigation.

"Crime doesn't often happen in isolation, so if we can make them target-harden their farms, that will push the thieves to their neighbours, and what we're trying to do is push them out of the district, so if everyone on the road gets on board, then we can try and make it work," Detective Whiteside said.

"Thieves are beasts of habit, if it's easy for them they'll keep going back, and that's what we have to stop."

Rural crime is compounded by under reporting, a lack of confidence in police, the passage of time, management of stocks and accountability for them, which makes it easier for thieves to quickly make tracks with the goods or stock.

It doesn't help when some mobs or herds aren't checked for months, or there's poor fencing and gates.

"It's the old adage, you need a partnership with local farmers and landholders so they talk to you, and this is about building that connection," Detective Whiteside said.

"We just need them to know that any police officer can take a report of rural crime, and if they don't report it, we can't do anything about it."

Often landholders won't report suspicious activity or crime immediately and wait until they next go to town or some weeks later.

The Barraba, Manilla and Bingara area has recently seen breakthroughs with arrests and people charged.

"The recent arrests and operations we have had in that area are a direct result of the reporting of crime," Detective Whiteside said.

"The colours of cars, number plates, when they come and go, that all helps feed into our intelligence, and our intel officers build that for us and that helps to push our officers into those areas.

"There's that many hunters that do the right thing, but there's the ones that do the wrong thing that make it an issue."

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