Two North Canterbury districts are trialling a new app that makes it easier to report rural crime.
The app, Rural Lookout, works without an internet connection, allowing, farmers who suspect a crime, to tag their location and upload photos - information that gets sent straight to the police.
With crime incidents on farms increasing, a two-year trial of the digital tool is underway in the Waimakariri and Hurunui Districts.
The trial aims to increase the number of police reports made by farmers.
Canterbury Rural Area Commander Inspector Peter Cooper says police believe a lot of rural crime goes unreported.
They're hoping this trial will change that.
“We want this app to find out what the true picture is... hopefully, it’s successful and can be rolled out around the country,” he says.
Oxford farmer Cameron Henderson says, given his experience, Rural Lookout will get frequent use.
“We’ve had a few tools go missing here from time to time, we’ve had a lot of suspicious vehicles drive up and down the road, we’ve suspected that we’ve lost some fuel at various points,” says Henderson.
North Canterbury Federated Farmers president, Caroline Amyes, hopes the data can also be used for crime prevention.
“With geo-locating, we’ll then be able to see patterns of what’s happening in those communities and make good decisions around how we reduce the likelihood of crime in our rural communities.”
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