ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses issues related to the policing of agricultural crime. However, the industrialisation of farming in advanced capitalist countries has made agricultural operations and vast array of expensive machinery, equipment and supplies bigger targets for crime than ever before Barclay and Donnermeyer 2007. Issues of policing in New South Wales and central California will be dependent on the organisation of law enforcement at these places. In Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, and the Australian Capital Territory, there are specialised police squads or rural crime investigators (RCIs). One solution to problem of stock identification and traceability is the National Livestock Identification Scheme (NLIS). During the past decade, the US Department of Justice helped to fund an agricultural crime initiative in California's Central Valley, which was conducted by Mears and associates. One research related recommendation is to begin longitudinal studies of crime against farmers, utilising a similar methodology as the National Crime Victimisation Survey of the US Department of Justice.
