Running a ranch is hard work, but having to worry about warding off thieves makes things even tougher.
More and more these days, growers in the Central Valley are being forced to invest in security measures to protect their property.
Crooks are targeting metal, fuel, fertilizer and equipment and when thieves take from farmers, it results in higher prices for everyone.
CBS47's Tony Botti shows you the choices ranchers are making to combat this growing problem.
Milking cows, picking crops, plowing fields… it all contributes to a 26 billion dollar a year industry for the Valley.
But with this rewarding profession comes risk because of numerous temptations. Sergeant Michael Chapman with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Department said, “It's not densely populated in the outlying areas so it's a very ripe target to be victimized by ag thieves.”
Chapman heads up the sheriff department's ag crimes unit. “Our biggest crime problem is the theft of metal, followed second by the theft of commodities,” said Chapman.
Crooks are cashing in on copper; getting around $3.50 a pound. Even scrap steel is going for $200 a ton. Metal theft is increasing as the sheriff department's budget remains tight, meaning, at times, there might be only one deputy available to patrol hundreds of square miles of farm land. “Sometimes these crimes aren't discovered for several days after the crimes been committed, which makes it much more difficult to successfully investigate it,” said Chapman.
That's where private security firms come in to assist.
Western Executive Protection in Visalia is busy patrolling local ranches every night.
CBS47 was invited to ride along with Tyler McDonald from Western Executive Protection while he made his rounds. “They can get diesel. We've had them taking batteries out of the equipment. As long as they can see we're there, they stay away from there,” said McDonald.
We spoke to Eric Shannon, a client of Western Executive Protection. Eric said, “If it's not secure, it's either vandalized or disappears the next morning. “We just felt we needed more eyes out there.”
The owner of SK Ranch manages 5,000 acres worth of walnuts, grapes, citrus and grains. He says he's had thieves strip an irrigation pump for $30 worth of copper wire. “Generally it costs us somewhere in the vicinity of a thousand bucks or more to fix it,” said Shannon.
That's why Shannon can justify spending that kind of money each month on private security. “It is pretty good insurance and you know time is money and if we go out there, we expect to have equipment and facilities that will work,” said Shannon.
An increasingly popular alternative to security patrols are security cameras, now that technology can deliver images in high definition quality. They can be a little bit costly, but they can also be extremely effective.
Older systems using optical zoom lenses could detect a suspect committing a crime but were not clear enough to identify the perpetrator.
Sean Woods with Valley Advanced Security in Tulare sells systems that range from $2,000 to $50,000. “You can start with one camera, get it in a key location where you may be having issues and see what it does for you,” said Woods.
And cutting edge technology allows you to monitor camera activity on your smartphone. “As long as you have an internet connection, you should be able to see a live view of your place as well as look at recordings,” said Woods. Recordings on hard drives that store 20 to 30 full days of footage. “As long as they can pinpoint a day or two in which that happened they can go back and very easily look at events that occurred on those days,” said Woods.
You can also set up an alarm to be triggered if the camera loses its visual, like if someone covered or disabled the camera, sending you a text or email.
Woods, who deals with many ranchers, says every sale always comes back to one point... “If you can deter, stop or recover one type of incident that has that type of a price tag, the system paid for itself,” said Woods.
Another tool for farmers use is to spray paint irrigation pipes and other pieces of scrap metal with a distinct color so that they will catch the attention of workers at recycling centers and allow them to report the stolen items to police.
Email the Fresno County Sheriff's Department ag crimes unit at
Agcrimes@fresnosheriff.org.
