Fieldays police: The boys in red

A red police car parked outside the police stand at Fieldays has attracted a lot of attention.

“Hundreds of people come and ask, what’s with the red car,” said police communications manager Andrew McAlley. “When we brought it in, in the dark, we had people following us from the main gate.”

“When they ask what it is, we say it’s the new colour scheme, they’re getting rolled out next year,” said police officer Corey Rees.

But despite the new colour scheme’s positive feedback, the car’s only been painted red to raise awareness of road safety.

“The Waikato is the only district in New Zealand where the road toll went up,”  Andrew McAlley said.

Rural roads are a particular problem because  the Waikato is  one of the busiest ports in the country, with state highways 1, 2  3 and 5 all going through it.

The police stand also had information on firearms safety and neighbourhood support groups.

The police encourage farmers to join rural neighbourhood support groups because this year burglaries went down  in the city areas but increased in the country.

“We had 800 more offences in the rural community,” said Mr McAlley. “There’s a lot of pressure being put on offenders in the city. It’s not a sudden new batch of offenders. These people might not have all the qualifications academically but they’re not stupid. What they’re doing is taking advantage of farms’ isolation.”

He said in the past farms were safer because of their isolation but this has led to farmers being complacent.

Tractors have been stolen from farms and taken for joyrides. The most common  things stolen from farms are fuel and hot water cylinders. The cylinders are sold for scrap metal.

The police advised farmers to mark their milk vats and hot water cylinders.

Mr McAlley said farmers know all their neighbours so they should ring the police when they see something out of place. “Often burglars target multiple farms in one area so early reporting is important.”

Mr Rees said distance can be an issue in police’s response to farm burglaries which why Neighourhood support groups are so important.

It can be hard for the police to get to rural areas safely but farmers should not take matter in to their own hands.

“I’d prefer them just to make the call instead of stepping in there and swinging bats. If they step in, something might happen to them. You can always replace property but you can’t replace a life.”

Mr  Rees said there were a number of reasons why burglaries have increased, particularly the bad economy and lack of jobs.