Posted on 07/22/2011 6:14:22 AM PDT by quesney
While thievery has long been a fact of life in the country, such crimes are on the rise and fighting them has become harder in many parts of California as many grants for rural law enforcement have withered on the vine.
While other states have their own agricultural intrigue — cattle rustlers in Texas, tomato takers in Florida — few areas can claim a wider variety of farm felons than California, where ambushes on everything from almonds to beehives have been reported in recent years. Then there is the hardware: diesel fuel, tools and truck batteries regularly disappear in the Central Valley, the state’s agricultural powerhouse, where high unemployment, foreclosures and methamphetamine abuse have made criminals more desperate, officials say.
“All of our ag crimes are up,” said Sergeant Reed, who oversees a unit of two full-time detectives — down from three a year ago — all patrolling a county about eight times the size of Rhode Island. A wet winter and warm summer, after all, have meant healthy crops, he said, and a healthy market means happy thieves.
“Everything this year is doing well,” Sergeant Reed said. “And if it’s doing well here, there’s somebody looking to steal it.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Get a dog. Not one of these stupid breeds we see city slickers owning, but a real dog. That means something 80lbs and up. A Pyr/Akbash cross would do very well for guarding the home and farm.
One thread of thought in this slimes article is how budget cuts will lead to more theft. Clearly a problem, but an agenda item for bigger govt from the slimes.
Unless you train them to fire a weapon, they will get shot.
See Argentina...
Roving bands of Amish, I suspect.
I'm a passable dog guy. I have a DSD protecting our property here in California.
Most of the fields in the Central, Salinas, and Imperial Valleys don't have fences. So the perps could claim they were simply attacked. I just don't see it working without a major capital investment, and even then, the insurance and verification that the dogs were properly trained would be very costly. Once one gets those certs, the paperwork is an open invitation for an ambulance chaser to see if they were maintained properly...
In this legal environment, it would be a nightmare.
The more illegal aliens in an area, the more theft of every kind. They consider themselves immune to our laws.
Or poisoned. See Mexico...
If I’m awakened by gunfire,all hell is gonna break out on the farm.
My daddy always tried to hide his bee hives in the woods on the edge of the fields. People would steal them or sometimes they’d just knock them over and take the supers that were full of honey.
I understand your feelings... but farms are secondary crime scenes in Argentina. Very, very ugly crime scenes. Well organized band of thugs take over farms and do whatever they want in isolated areas of Argentina.
We're really in a world of hurt out here with this legislature.
We can only hope they might assemble a greeting party when Soros or Ted Turner come to vacation on their digs down there. If I could, I would chip in a paltry incentive.
You are thinking of the old family farm where people actually lived with their dogs. We have a ranch with cattle and equipment. No one lives there, all you can do is lock the gate.
Ah....Mexico.....
They are just bringing their cultural tradition here. I have a friend that has 70,000 Blue Agave plants that will be ready for harvest this year. Took 5 years. He has hired 4 armed guards to protect them from rustlers. They are on duty 24/7. But my friend says that even that may not help. Guards are easily paid-off.
You have my sympathies for living in California.
0bama hasn’t made it illegal to emigrate to another state, though - just sayin’
Ohio ain’t Argentina,Thank God.
(At least not yet.)
If you think you can out run the business end of my varmint rife on the four wheeler you are welcome to try. But you are just going to end up feeling it, but never hearing it.
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