Beating the Bad Guys

Beating the Bad Guys

Beating the Bad Guys. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.

As a farmer or rancher it is not as easy to police your entire operation. Thieves have made a target of such things as gas tanks, machinery, and even livestock. It is important that we do everything we can to secure our property and possessions, even if they are spread out over many acres. In the old west there were few gray areas and a six-shooter or rifle were commonplace. Detective Jason Nunez with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department in SE Washington State says that is a touchy subject today.

NUNEZ: Discharging a firearm is always a touchy issue. It’s not necessarily illegal if they do it in a safe way out in the county. It is really common for farmers to be out on their property shooting firearms, practicing, or even maybe putting down animals as they need to. It’s not necessarily the same as in town where they have the fear of maybe hitting someone that’s just a couple of blocks down. Out in the outlying areas there can be 5,10,15 miles houses.

Of course away from the city lights it is easier for thieves to do their dirty deeds under the cover of darkness. Det. Nunez says it’s great to light up the night.

NUNEZ: Out door lighting is a great one, it’s a great deterrent. These new security cameras that are coming out, they’re wireless and they’re really easy to install and they’re really becoming inexpensive and occasionally we’ll have fuel thefts or other types of thefts on farms where some of these farmers have set these cameras up and they can really help out.

He says the cameras themselves probably won’t stop the crime from being committed but the video can really help out in quickly apprehending the culprits. But one of the biggest deterrents is some plain old common sense.

NUNEZ: Out in the county it’s really common for people to leave their doors unlocked and for their cars too, they’ll leave their car doors unlocked out there because they feel pretty safe about it but that in itself can be a big help and really bring down the crime rate out there is just using the doors and locks on their vehicles and houses.

Also marking your property is a good way to help law enforcers.

NUNEZ: As far as some of the machinery, serial numbers are a big help to us. We often do recover stolen machinery such as welders, other high priced items that people are stealing and reselling on the internet or anywhere else. But without a serial number it’s almost impossible for us to match unless the farmer is marking them some other way by engraving them or spray painting them.

He also adds that the phone is your best help. If you see something out of the ordinary, call your local law enforcement and report it.

That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.

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