Canterbury crime shows continued fall in 2011
Recorded crime in the Canterbury Police District continued its post-earthquake downward trend in 2011, with figures for the calendar year showing a 22.2 percent drop.
Crime figures released today, covering the 2011 year, indicate a total of 40,540 offences were recorded in Canterbury for the 12 month period to 31 December 2011, compared to 52,119 in the 2010 year.
On a per head of population basis, recorded crime fell by 21.5 percent – from 930.2 per 10,000 people in 2010 to 730.4 per 10,000 people last year.
The latest results follow a similar trend to those reported for the 12 months to 30 June 2011, which showed a decrease in reported crime of 14.6 percent.
District Commander Superintendent Gary Knowles says the drop in recorded crime is dramatic, and reflects the impact of the Canterbury earthquakes.
"These results are probably the clearest indication so far of the effect the ongoing earthquakes have had on crime in the greater Christchurch area," Superintendent Knowles says.
"After both the September 2010 and February 2011 events we noted significant decreases in crime across most types of offending. This was not entirely unexpected, as international research shows that major natural disasters are often followed by a reduction in crime.
"But it is still a striking result - and a very welcome one for a community that's been through so much disruption over the past year."
The reduction also follows a long-term trend which has seen crime in Canterbury falling from a high of 1150 offences per 10,000 population in 1998, to just 730 last year.
Substantial reductions were recorded in some of the high volume crime categories including theft and related offences - down by 26.3 percent, property damage - down by 26.9 percent, and burglary-related offences - down by 16.8 percent.
Significant results included:
• Motor vehicle theft was down by 28.6 percent, from 8142 to 5816
• Theft other than motor vehicles fell by 24.2 percent from 8626 to 6542
• Robbery, extortion and related offences recorded a 24.3 percent drop, from 255 to 193
• Fraud, deception and related offences fell by 33.3 percent, from 1271 to 848
• Drug-related offending dropped by 16.4 percent, from 2169 to 1814
• Weapons related offences fell by 23.3 percent, from 744 to 571
• Public order offences, including disorderly conduct, fell by 21.3 percent, from 5688 to 4479
• Assaults fell from 4064 to 3408, a drop of 16.1 percent
An increase was recorded in the category of sexual assault and related offences which increased by 16.4 percent, from 318 offences in 2010 to 370 in 2011.
Four murders were recorded in the 2011 year compared to five in 2010, and six in 2009.
Across the district, total recorded crime in the Christchurch Central Area was down 41.5 percent and in Northern Canterbury by 20.1 percent. Southern Canterbury total crime fell by 9.9 percent, while rates in Mid-South Canterbury, which includes Timaru and Ashburton, fell by 9.5 percent.
The figure for Christchurch Central reflects the fact that the central city has been largely unpopulated for the majority of the year, Superintendent Knowles says.
"What is remarkable is that offending is down across the entire district, and in almost all types of offending," he says.
"The closure of the CBD is one of the major contributing factors to the overall drop in district crime - the central city has traditionally been a prominent location for crime, especially disorder and alcohol-related offences.
"Other factors include the highly visible police presence around the city in the months following the February earthquake, and the increased sense of community spirit which has undoubtedly played a part."
Superintendent Knowles says research suggests crime will gradually start returning towards 'normal' levels, but Police are focusing on maintaining the downward trend.
"Our focus on Prevention First is all about stopping crime before it happens - and we are putting considerable resources into keeping these numbers down.
“This includes putting additional frontline officers out into the community, and introducing Neighbourhood Policing Teams working with local communities and targeting crime in high-risk areas."