THE Victorian government needs to follow NSW and have specialist rural crime officers, Wodonga politician Bill Tilley says.
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The member for Benambra said new farm crime measures announced on Monday by the state government "fall well short" of what is required.
"You've got to have a full-time dedicated squad and not just one person, you need a team of people together and if there's hotspots you can have flying squads going around the state," Mr Tilley said.
"They should be looking at the NSW model."
In 2002, NSW formed a specialist rural crime unit with Albury having one officer and Deniliquin two who solely work on offences such as livestock theft, illegal hunting and farm equipment stealing.
There is also four dedicated rural crime members across the Riverina police district.
Detective Sergeant Scott Barton has filled the Albury position since 2006 and said it would be beneficial to have a counterpart in Wodonga.
"Criminals do not take notice of border lines or police districts, so having a dedicated person in Wodonga would definitely be an advantage," Detective Sergeant Barton said.
Mr Tilley, a former Wodonga policeman, said the existing Victorian system of having agricultural liaison officers combining farm crime with other duties failed to acknowledge the resourcing needed.
"You need the ability to have horse floats, vehicles and modern technology, you can use drones for horse counts," he said.
"A lot of rural crime goes unreported because they don't have the faith they will find them.
"They think it's only a couple of head of cattle they won't find them."
"The new farm crime co-ordination unit will help centralise Victoria Police's response to farm crime, while also ensuring the continued presence of farm crime liaison officers across the state," Ms Neville said.
However, Victorian Nationals leader Peter Walsh said the government's move was a rebadging.
"Changing job titles is not the same as adding new frontline officers and it won't help tackle worsening rural crime rates," Mr Walsh said.
"The Andrews Labor Government is trying to dress today's announcement up as 70 new positions, but in reality there won't be any more boots on the ground in frontline roles to protect our farmers and their properties.
"Without a commitment from the Government for new frontline roles and a dedicated, specialist rural crime unit, this is just Labor shuffling the deckchairs."
Mr Tilley suggested Ms Neville put more pressure on Victoria Police to follow the lead of NSW.
"The minister needs to be a lot tougher on the bureaucrats," he said.
