The NSW Police Force needs the community’s help to identify people involved in rural crime.
This year at The Sydney Royal Easter show, for the very first time, the New South Wales rural police have setup shop in the cattle pavilion, educating the public about rural crime with an emphasis on how to report one when you see it.
Our reporter Helena Ellis caught up with detective Graham Begley, of the NSW rural police, at the NSW Rural Crime stand situated in the cattle pavilion at The Sydney Royal Easter Show, to give us a better understanding of who the NSW rural police are, what is a rural crime, and what we can do as a community to play our part in helping decrease rural crime.
“Rural Crime is anything that impacts the rural industry, so it’s not just traditionally stealing cattle and stealing goats and sheep, it’s anything that impacts on the rural industry, break in on a rural property”, Detective Graham Begley tells Helena Ellis. “A lot of farmers have expensive machinery in their sheds. It’s also illegal hunting, a lot of hunters will just drive through fences and steal from a farmer”.
At this current stage, there is a state-wide network of 44 experienced and dedicated Rural Crime Investigators, working with rural communities to prevent and solve these crimes. Detective Graham Begley also explains the NSW Rural police work in National Parks and waters, work together with the RSPCA and local land services.
“It’s the best job in the cops” Says Detective Graham Begley.
You can play your part in helping the rural police and keeping your community safe by reporting a rural crime to Crime Stoppers – 1800 333 000.
You can find Detective Graham Begley, and other officers, daily inside the cattle pavilion at The Sydney Royal Easter Show.
