Persimmon growers in Taichung's Fengyuan district are losing fruit to passing hikers, and police are stepping in with extra patrols during the peak harvest.

• Farmers on Gonglaoping reported people helping themselves to ripe persimmons while out walking or exercising in the morning.
• Most of the stolen fruit came from trees along the edge of hiking trails, not from inside the orchards.
• Police added electronic patrol checkpoints and assigned officers to the busiest walking routes at the times thefts happen.
• Warning signs will remind people that picking fruit without permission counts as theft and can leave them with a criminal record.
• Other signs will warn that the fruit may have been sprayed with pesticide and is not safe to eat straight off the tree.

Outlook: Police plan to add more cameras at key intersections and are urging farmers to install their own, with the harvest season keeping the patrols in place for now.