While crime in Hamilton drops Waikato experiences a small rise in offences

While Hamilton City saw a reduction in overall crime including drops in residential burglaries, robberies and acts intended to cause injury the Waikato as a whole has seen an increase in crime over the past year.

District Commander, Superintendent Win van der Velde, said figures released in the annual crime statistics showed the Waikato suffered 591 more offences than the previous year.

"That works out to a 1.7 percent increase in reported crime which means not only will Hamilton City be working on how to build on their 1.9 percent reduction in reported offending but the Eastern and Western Waikato Areas will be looking for returns on recently introduced new initiatives."

When taking into account the rise in the Waikato's population over the past 12 months this equated to a 3.4 percent reduction in crime in Hamilton and an overall increase in crime across the District of 0.7 percent.

Mr van der Velde said when you compared 2010 to 2011 Hamilton City suffered 407 less offences but the Eastern Waikato saw an increase of 699 and the Western Waikato an increase of 299.

"There were fewer burglaries, intents to burgle and breaking and entering offences recorded in the City last year however this is offset by an increase recorded in the East and West of the District.

"We are looking at the priority areas and times where offending occurs, to that end a study is currently underway across the District to ensure our staff are available at the times and places offending is occurring."

Mr van der Velde said the introduction of Neighbourhood Policing Teams in the Enderley/ Fairfield area of Hamilton and in west Huntly, coupled with clear evidence communities wanted to become more involved, would lead a new prevention first policing strategy.

"Over the past year we've had a lot of success with offending being reported through Crimestoppers, (over 300 reports in 2011) , which became the catalyst for further investigation and in some cases resulted in the apprehension of drug offenders, through to high level public support for serious incidents.

"These incidents included the resolution of the Sara Niethe cold case murder in the Eastern Waikato, the baby Serenity homicide in Ngaruawahia and the formative stages of Operation Sonny which resulted in the discovery of this country's largest ever methamphetamine lab, a case currently before the courts"

Less drug offences were recorded in the Waikato last year but Mr van der Velde warned against complacency.

"During this year's cannabis operation we arrested 75 offenders compared to 68 in 2011 however drug offending is still a concern, despite the likes of Operation Sonny, the availability of drugs remain unchanged."

Interagency relationships such as the ones Police in the Waikato have with the Ministry of Education addressing truancy, the co-location with Child Youth and Family in Hamilton and the partnership with Community Probation were key in moving forward said Mr van der Velde.

"Together with initiatives such as Operation SNAP and the 'Too good to be true' programme, these relationships will assist Police in helping the public help themselves from becoming victims of crime."

As these initiatives take hold Mr van der Velde said it was reasonable to expect an increase in trust and confidence in Police would result in increased reporting of offending.

"These initiatives allow the community to act as our eyes and ears, if the community doesn't step up to help us help them then it makes our job extremely difficult.

A focus for Waikato Police remains the District's road toll which last year was the highest in the country with 52 road deaths.

"Reducing the volume of road trauma remains a high priority. Not only did 52 families lose a loved one last year the Waikato District Health Board advises us on average they deal with about 250 serious injury victims annually as a result of crashes.

"This puts a huge toll on emergency, medical and recuperative services both in terms of money and resources and is a cost society as a whole is finding it increasingly difficult to meet."

While Police maintain highly visible road policing staff across the Waikato Mr van der Velde said road safety was the responsibility of every motorist who sits behind the wheel, or controls, of a vehicle.

"That could be a local farmer who puts his foot  down on a piece of road he's travelled every day of his life, a pedestrian who steps out into traffic without looking or a mother picking up children who fails to stop at an intersection.

"It's all about ensuring both drivers and their vehicles are fit to be on our roads."

Nationally there were 20,289 fewer offences recorded in 2011 than during the previous calendar year, with 406,056 offences recorded between 1 January 2011 and 31 December 2011.

After taking into account the 0.8 percent rise in New Zealand’s resident population over the same period, the fall in recorded offences for 2011 is 5.6 percent.

The largest decreases in crime were in Canterbury (-22.2 percent), Southern (-13.1 percent) and Northland (-10.5 percent) while Auckland City experienced an 8.3 percent increase.