Lecturers at the University of New England have been instrumental in gathering valuable research into the effects of crime in rural areas.
Statistics show that rates of crime in small rural communities are often higher than crime rates in the cities, especially in small isolated towns.
Professor John Scott, from the School of Behavioural, Cognitive and Social Science at the University of New England, has been studying the effects of crime in rural communities for a number of years.
“Not all towns have this issue; you may come across a small town that has high rates of violence, but others not so. On average, rates of interpersonal violence are higher in rural communities compared to the cities,” said Professor John Scott.
In rural areas, domestic violence is an issue that is not often reported.
“Two guys have a fight in the pub, next day, one has a black eye, they don’t report it,” said Professor Scott.
“They see each other every day, so it’s not worth reporting.
“People don’t want to report a friend or family member, or even a stranger, for violence.
“Small communities don’t want to be associated with other people’s intimate business; too many people know each other.”
Though domestic violence is higher in rural areas of Australia, in the city, property theft is higher.
“In rural communities we have something called natural surveillance,” said Professor John Scott.
“They watch out for each other, people care about their community and are more vigilant.
“You have less need for security cameras watching out for strange activities, because you have your local people doing that for you.”
Colleague of Professor Scott at the University of New England and a leader in the field of rural crime in Australia, Dr Elaine Barclay, has been pleased to see the establishment of Rural Crime Investigators (RCIs) within Australian police forces.
“In rural Australia you see crimes like cattle rustling, stealing farm equipment, domestic violence and break and enters,” said Dr Barclay.
“Rates of reporting crime have increased in rural areas. Farmers feel more comfortable now there are dedicated RCIs, police who understand the value of farming equipment and crops in rural areas.”
Dr Barclay did her Ph.D looking into farm crime, livestock theft and crime in rural areas generally.
Rural crimes involve environmental crimes and bio security. Rubbish dumping is a huge problem for farmers, says Dr Barclay.
“People don’t want to pay fees to go down into the town garbage dumps, they just dump on the nearest property.
“A lot of farms that are close to towns suffer this. Rubbish can get into water-ways, stock can eat rubbish, and cattle can eat things like plastic bags, potentially killing stock.
“It also affects native animals.
“Sometimes waterways are syphoned off to properties, affecting farms downstream and the natural ecosystem.
“Water theft can be a problem in irrigation areas as well. This is an issue we’d like to do some more research on.
“Crimes like spray drift can wipe out crops, doing significant damage to native pastures.”
The criminologists are currently doing research on night patrols in communities throughout New South Wales.
Story: Kasumi Scott
