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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 12:48 am
Time: 12:48 am
Results for cattle stealing
2 results foundAuthor: Rafolatsane, Api Title: The Role of Police and Civil Society in Combatting Cross-Border Stock Theft Summary: Stock theft is a national crisis in, across and throughout Lesotho. This fact has led the Lesotho Mounted Police Service to place stock theft management under the serious crimes unit. In the mid-1990s stock theft reached epidemic proportions in the southern district adjoining the Eastern Cape Province of the Republic of South Africa. This problem still persists and has lately turned very violent and deadly in the Qachas'nek District. However, the Quthing district has seen a relative decrease in the rate of stock theft in the mid-2000s. The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors and strategies used in both Quthing and Qachas'nek districts to curb cross border stock theft. These factors and strategies are then compared to establish why cross-border stock theft is decreasing in Quthing while it escalates in Qachas'nek. The main finding of the research is that the Quthing community adopted the strategy of community policing and were trained on crime prevention while the opposite is true in the Qachas'nek district. A community policing strategy has not been adopted in Qachas'nek. It has also been established that training in community policing and crime prevention has to be offered to police officers and the members of crime prevention committee members. Lastly, the study revealed that laws governing stock theft have to be amended and the crime prevention committees should be better empowered. Details: Witwatersrand: University of the Witwatersrand, 2013. 106p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 11, 2016 at: https://core.ac.uk/download/files/979/39671842.pdf Year: 2013 Country: South Africa URL: https://core.ac.uk/download/files/979/39671842.pdf Shelf Number: 139575 Keywords: Cattle StealingCattle TheftCommunity Policing |
Author: New South Wales. Ministry of Justice Title: NSW Stock Theft and Trespass Review: Final Report Summary: This Review was announced by the Deputy Premier and Minister for Justice and Police on 25 February 2016 along with specific terms of reference. The scope of the Review - stock theft, rural trespass and illegal hunting - represents how intertwined these crime types are. Given this, a series of recommendations are proposed in this Report which address all three of these issues, as well as ensuring Police are appropriately structured, empowered and resourced for the particular challenges posed by rural crime. As Professor Elaine Barclay found in her 2014 Research into farm crime, while other types of crime are on a downward trend, rural crime is increasing and significantly underreported. It is also important to highlight that approximately 25% of NSW residents live outside Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong. Stock theft, rural trespass and illegal hunting are crimes of major concern to rural and isolated communities. These crimes can lead to significant economic loss for primary producers and rural communities, with one incident potentially leading to tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in property theft and malicious damage, as well as the loss of future breeding potential. The impact of rural trespass and illegal hunting is also multiplied by opportunistic crimes which accompany these offences, such as firearm theft, diesel theft or animal cruelty. Recent reports, for example, suggest that more than 90% of stolen firearms in NSW being taken from rural areas. As many rural families live and work on the same property, such crimes can generate tremendous fear, as well as a sense of insecurity, and intimidation, due to being unable to control who is able to access their land. And police assistance, particularly in isolated communities, may be hours or even days away, especially if the nearest police station is not staffed 24 hours. The current Police response to crime in rural and remote communities was brought into question at every public consultation held over the course of the Review. It is apparent that the staffing of 24-hour stations is critical to the efficient policing of rural and remote areas right across NSW. Because of industrial agreements, police from smaller stations are routinely used to fill gaps in rosters at larger stations and officers in charge of stations are not appropriately empowered to determine the best policing response for their local communities. Such practices are starving rural communities of the police protection to which they are entitled. It is the opinion of this Review that addressing this issue should be the highest priority of the NSW Police Force. Hunting on private land using knives, dogs or bows continues to grow in popularity across NSW, perhaps fuelled in part by the lack of regulation of such activities, compared with the regulatory scheme in place for hunting with firearms. Often this hunting involves rural trespass. This lack of regulation does nothing to assist Police or the Department of Primary Industries to manage or control such behaviour. When rural crimes are prosecuted, the penalties issued are routinely far below both the maximum penalty and the quantum of the loss suffered by victims of such crime. Victims feel deep frustration that current penalties do not act as effective deterrents and suggest that magistrates and sometimes police officers do not appear to understand or appreciate the impact of such crimes. This Report will propose a number of recommendations aimed at addressing stock theft, rural trespass and illegal hunting. These include enhanced penalties for existing offences, an expansion of current regulatory requirements and significant changes to the way the NSW Police Force is currently structured to address rural crime. Key to addressing stock theft, rural trespass and illegal hunting is ensuring that police in rural and remote areas are engaged with their communities and are properly tasked and resourced to address these crimes. For a number of years, this does not appear to have been the case, most likely since police retreated to 'core business' and relinquished various extraneous duties undertaken on behalf of other government agencies which gave them regular contact with their communities. Current police transfer arrangements mean that police officers accept short-term postings to rural and remote areas, merely as a stepping stone to more desirable positions. Rural officers in non-24 hour stations are also often tasked outside their sectors and rural crime investigators are routinely tasked with jobs which have nothing to do with rural crime, such as child protection register visits. Police policies and structures also mean that if a call for assistance is received at night and/or to attend a remote location, police officers are supported by current policy in determining they should not attend alone, despite their possibly being the only police representative on duty in that sector. Whilst the intent behind this - to protect the safety of officers working in single units - is supported, consideration must also be given to the policing support made available to landowners dealing with trespassers and thieves, who may possibly be intoxicated and also armed. Although Police policies are intended to address both police and community safety, there is considerable confusion in relation to this area of policing, which was clearly expressed by stakeholders during the course of the Review. The content and findings of this Report reflect discussions with and submissions received from a range of different stakeholders, from government agencies, to industry bodies to residents of rural and remote communities. This Report is addressed to the Deputy Premier for his serious consideration. The recommendations made in the Report will, if implemented, greatly assist in empowering both police officers and victims of crime in addressing stock theft, rural trespass and illegal hunting. Details: Sydney: Ministry of Justice, 2016. 55p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 28, 2017 at: http://www.justice.nsw.gov.au/Documents/Media%20Releases/2017/final-report-NSW-stock-theft-and-trespass-review.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Australia URL: http://www.justice.nsw.gov.au/Documents/Media%20Releases/2017/final-report-NSW-stock-theft-and-trespass-review.pdf Shelf Number: 146923 Keywords: Cattle StealingCattle TheftIllegal HuntingRural Crime |