December 1, 2015
The Queensland Stock and Rural Crime Investigation Squad (SARCIS) says one of its biggest barriers to solving crimes are delays in reporting suspected cattle theft.
This causes difficulty in investigating any theft.
“If you suspect you are missing stock, report it immediately,” Detective Senior Sergeant Jim Lacey said.
“Often we’ll get a complaint that is six months down the track.
“By that time, the cattle could be in South Australia, it could have gone through the meatworks or it could be on a boat heading out of the Northern Territory.”
Thanks to a restructure and extra funding that now has hubs based in Toowoomba, Rockhampton and Mareeba, SARCIS is now better equipped to tackle rural crime.
“In the past, a complaint would be made and you would be told to muster, talk to your neighbours and then come back to us before we could investigate,” Sergeant Lacey said.
“We still do that, but now we record your complaint, send out the information about missing stock and our guys head out to the saleyards while you muster.
“It’s now very easy to report rural crime with our Policelink smartphone app.
“It will give you instant access to the blog and it allows you to upload photos of suspicious activities or send us an email.”
