Ngā Mihi. As we’ve seen recently, aggravated robberies have been a significant area of focus for Police across the country. These crimes have a significant impact on our communities, especially on small business owners.
I acknowledge the concerns of shopkeepers and business owners and I want to reaffirm our commitment to preventing this type of crime in our communities while ensuring we hold those responsible to account.
We are working with key partners to identify strategies for the prevention of retail crime, as well as working to identify offenders, which can ultimately lead to resolutions.
While our three Auckland districts have been focused on lately, it’s great to see in the last three months that they have arrested 55 people and placed them before the courts in relation to aggravated robberies of commercial premises.
Blenheim meth bust
On Tuesday, Staff in Blenheim arrested six men in relation to possession and supply charges as part of an investigation into an organised supply network.
The arrests came after the execution of six search warrants across Blenheim where various amounts of Class A and Class C drugs were seized, including methamphetamine, cannabis and liquid steroids.
This is another great example of our people working hard to prevent the harm caused in our communities by these substances.
Changing attitudes
It was an honour to welcome colleagues from across Australasia to the 8th Australasian Drug and Alcohol Strategy Conference in Wellington this week.
New Zealand Police and Australian Federal Police co-hosted the conference at Te Papa with the focus on influencing attitudes to change the behaviour and thinking towards alcohol and drugs.
The conference included presentations and discussions from a wide range of speakers from the social, health and justice sectors with a number of international speakers.
Raising awareness
This month, Police are involved in a number of awareness weeks and I encourage you all to take the time to support these key topics including privacy, (anti) bullying and road safety.
On Monday, we also launched ten new videos relating to sexual assault as part of Rape Awareness Week. These videos explain the process for reporting sexual assaults and dispel some of the myths surrounding this process.
These videos, along with our key resources, are available on the new Sexual Assault section of the Police website.
As always, stay safe.
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