Canterbury crime shows continuing reductions in 2011/12
Recorded crime in the Canterbury Police District continued its post-earthquake downward trend in 2011/12, with figures for the latest fiscal year showing an 11.7 percent drop.
Statistics released today, covering the year to 30 June 2012, show a total of 40,522 offences were recorded in Canterbury for the 12 month period, compared to 45,904 in the same period in 2010/11 year.
On a per head of population basis, recorded crime fell by 10 percent – from 814.5 per 10,000 people in 2010/11, to 733.5 per 10,000 people last fiscal year.
The latest results show 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 latest statistics continue to reflect the impact of the Canterbury earthquakes.
"We saw crime statistics take a sharp dip in the aftermath of the devastating earthquakes, and it's good new that we are seeing that trend continuing in these figures," he says.
"Although we anticipate that crime levels will not remain this low long-term, it's encouraging to see that the figures have remained well below pre-quake levels across almost all crime types."
The current reduction also maintains the long-term trend which has seen crime in Canterbury falling from a high of 1,155 offences per 10,000 population in 1995/96, to 733.5 in the latest fiscal year.
Substantial reductions were recorded in some of the high volume crime categories including burglary-related offences - down by 21.9 percent; theft and related offences - down by 14.3 percent; and property damage - down by 10.5 percent.
Other results included:
• Motor vehicle theft was down by 12.9 percent, from 6513 to 5670
• Robbery, extortion and related offences recorded a 21.4 percent drop, from 221 to 172
• Weapons and explosives-related offences fell by 10.6 percent, from 653 to 584
• Public order offences, including disorderly conduct, dropped 12.5 percent, from 5154 to 4512
• Acts intended to cause injury offences fell from 3756 to 3520, a drop of 6.3 percent
The category of sexual assault and related offences recorded a minor reduction, from 384 offences to 381.
Increases were recorded in illicit drug offences, which increased by 2.7 percent, from 1841 to 1890, and in fraud-related offences which increased 5.4 percent, from 1074 to 1132.
Ten murders were recorded in Canterbury District for the 2011/12 year compared to three in 2010/11, and five in 2009/10.
Across the district, total recorded crime in the Christchurch Central Area was down 26.9 percent, reflecting the fact that the central city has been largely unpopulated for the majority of the year.
In Northern Canterbury recorded crime fell by 2.5 percent, Southern Canterbury total crime fell by 4.3 percent, while rates in Mid-South Canterbury, which includes Timaru and Ashburton, fell by 16.7 percent.
Superintendent Knowles says while results are positive, the District is far from complacent about the reduction and remains focused on preventing and reducing crime.
"We are well aware that some of these figures may rise again in the future and we are putting considerable planning and resources into maintaining the current trend.
"We are continuing to roll out a range of proactive policing and crime prevention programmes. These include putting additional frontline officers out in to the community, adjusting our rosters to ensure we have staff available at peak times, and improving our back-office systems to free up officers' time."