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
Overall,
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
Nationally an average of 76.6 per cent of violent crimes are
solved, but in the
The increase in reported sexual offences is lower in the Waikato than the
national average, but the
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.