Please attribute to Senior Sergeant Cynthia Fairley, Area Manager Response, Balclutha
If you need some help, just ‘give us a whistle’ is the message Police are helping to spread.
Police along with our partners at Safe in the South, Federated Farmers, Rural Support and Rural Women in Southland are encouraging under-pressure farmers to ‘give us a whistle’, but not literally, with a branded police logo sheep-dog whistle.
“We want our people in the community to share their ideas and information and anything else they want with their local police, we are always a listening ear. And if we can’t offer you the help you need, we can steer you to another provider who will be able to," she says.
Police are teaming up with our partners for Field Days from 14-16 of February to overcome the barriers that farmers and other rural people can have, to getting help for anything from financial pressures, droughts, earthquakes, and beehive thefts to family issues. This quirky gift of a sheep-dog whistle actually serves as a reminder that help is only a whistle away.
"Our rural cops are building relationships in their areas with their locals and so they understand the issues around property theft, rural pressures and the effects of crime on farming families who are isolated. Police are not only here to give crime prevention advice and helpful tips to reduce stock thefts and property burglaries, we are here to watch your back, make sure you are okay and listen out for you," said Inspector Cynthia Fairley.
We want to reinforce the message that the Police and our partners in the rural community are sympathetic to the needs of those living rurally. We are problem solvers with support service links and confidentiality and we are only a whistle away – or in this case - a phone call, or an email, or a text.
Keep in mind police may need to travel long distances to get to you. Call 111 when you need immediate help with a life-threatening or time-critical emergency.
Some emergencies will need more than one service (Fire, Ambulance and Police). Ask for the service which is needed most urgently.
Southern Field Days - 14-16th of February 2018
ENDS
Issued by Police Media Centre
