Federated Farmers Chief Executive, Terry Copeland, has today called on the Government to deploy Army personnel to deter crime in rural areas of Coromandel, East Cape and Hawke’s Bay.
Mr Copeland spent the past few days in Hawke’s Bay region meeting affected local residents.
“People outside the region have little awareness of the dire situation. The criminal element is operating and intimidating in isolated rural and farming areas, and a perception is not enough is being done to rein them in,” he said.
“The Police are doing an awesome and much appreciated job. But the army would increase the reach of State authority and support to rural areas.
“Rural communities are tight knit and self-reliant, but they could do with the reassurance and support of the army’s neutral presence.
“Exhausted people in flood-hit areas are very vulnerable, and the State is not there with them at enough scale. They need the reassurance of the army presence, and criminals need the army to deter them,” he said.
