Hamish Stout was astounded to be called at about midnight recently by police to say someone had stolen the front gate to his Kaimai farm.

'They'd loaded the 12 foot gate on a ute and driven off with it, but one of the neighbours had seen the ute and taken down the number plate and called the police,” Hamish told the Bay of Plenty branch of Federated Farmers' May conference.

'The gate was about 27 years old and freshly painted because my wife asked me to make it look good for the family at Christmas.”
Less than an hour after the first call, police rang back to say they had apprehended the alleged offender and would Hamish like to retrieve his gate.
'The person was convicted and fined $400,” Hamish says.
The conference was discussing issues of rural security, stock rustling in particular, and Rick Powdrell, chairman of the meat and fibre committee
said Hamish's experience was an excellent example of how communities could help catch criminals.
'The neighbour got the registration number, called police and police acted quickly to solve the crime,” he said.
'Sometimes people are reluctant to
call police because they think they
won't be interested or don't have the time to follow up, but they do want information as it can often help solve bigger crimes.”
The recent case of Matamata deer rustlers, believed to be responsible for the theft of up to $100,000 worth of animals, was solved partly due to reports of license plates of suspicious vehicles given to police, he says.
'Rural security and stock rustling have both been issues that members of the provincial executive have been working closely with police to minimise, through regular meetings, information sharing and use of communication lines.
'The police are to be commended for their efforts in the rural areas with a number of offenders arrested and
on-going work with communities, to jointly address unlawful activity,” he told the meeting.