Waikato Times
April 10, 2001

Waikato police to target sex crimes


Waikato police plan to get tough on violence and sex offences after a decrease in burglaries, drugs and dishonesty crimes last year.

The district saw the biggest fall in reported crime, a police report yesterday shows.

In the Waikato overall crime is down 10 per cent compared with 1999.

Overall, Waikato is exactly on the national average for the number of resolved crimes - in 86.9 per cent of reported crimes someone was caught, an arrest was made or property recovered.

Superintendent Clint Rickards said the decrease was a pleasing result from a real team effort, but police weren't resting on their laurels.

"The district is currently reviewing current strategies and programmes in these areas with a long-term focus of reducing their figures," Mr Rickards said.

Last year the number of violent offences reported to police rose 4.7 per cent.

In the Waikato it was slightly lower than the average, at 4.4 per cent.

Nationally an average of 76.6 per cent of violent crimes are solved, but in the Waikato it's 73.1 per cent.

The increase in reported sexual offences is lower in the Waikato than the national average, but the Waikato district has the lowest percentage of resolved cases in the country.

Drug and anti-social offences have gone down 14.8 per cent, dishonesty reports have fallen by 14.4 per cent.

Mr Rickards said the police's tough stance on burglaries has seen house burglaries fall 20 per cent.

He said the decrease was a combination of new initiatives, getting tough on repeat offenders and a "firm approach" to making offenders stick to bail conditions.

Mr Rickards backed the Waikato Times' Stop Thief campaign launched last year which named and shamed known burglars.

Police promised to put pressure on criminals and make their lives more difficult.

Mr Rickards said drugs and dishonesty offences tended to be linked, which explained the fall in both. "Out of every 20 people in on drug offences, probably 15 will have dishonesty offences to their name," he said.

"I'm very pleased with the great work of our staff and other agencies, and the support of the community, which has been an important part of our strategy," Mr Rickards said.

"This doesn't mean we can't make further inroads, as there are still a number of areas we can improve on," he said.