Riding the wave of a large drop in residential burglaries over the summer holidays Hamilton Police involved in an operation targeting dishonesty offenders are back on the streets today, denying the roads to thieves.
Hamilton City Area Commander, Inspector Rob Lindsay, said the joint checkpoints, carried out across the City in conjunction with Court Bailiffs, were part of the latest phase of the ongoing Operation Persil.
"The methodology behind it is that though not everyone who drives is a criminal nearly all criminals drive so by carrying out these stops we can upset their networks.
"One of the key things offenders tell Police is that they can't plan to avoid impromptu, random, vehicle stops such as those being carried out today."
Mr Lindsay said the efforts of staff involved in Operation Persil and other initiatives targeting dishonesty offending had shown good returns with a 31 per cent reduction in the number of reported residential burglaries during a period where large increases are traditionally the norm.
"Over the period 20 December 2009 to 10 January 2010 there were 243 Hamilton homes broken into. Over the same period this year this number dropped to 168 so we're keen to build on these inroads.
"This summer, by adapting our tactics, identifying key offenders and creating proactive tactical units we've had some good successes locking up some key offenders.
Mr Lindsay said as part of Operation Persil those offenders known to be involved in dishonesty offending subject to court imposed bail conditions have found themselves subject to frequent, irregular visits to their homes to ensure they adhering to those conditions.
Since Persil began in 2008 the operation has accounted for over 300 arrests and Mr Lindsay said information obtained from offenders suggested these tactics have disrupted a number of burglary and receiving networks criminals use to obtain and move on stolen property.
"And what we see today is an extension to that, by denying offenders or those who should be at home as part of their bail conditions, freedom of movement we remove their ability to organise and carryout their criminal activity.
"Working in partnership with the bailiffs also means those who are required to pay fines imposed by the courts meet their obligations or risk losing their motor vehicles."
And while Police continue to be concerned about some homeowners' continuing lax attitude towards securing their homes the public had assisted Police in other ways.
"There's been quite a few timely calls from the public reporting suspicious behaviour that have enabled our staff to react and apprehend some burglars.
"An example of this was a resident of Kingsford Mews who saw two males, aged 18 and 13, acting suspiciously around a neighbour's home. Keeping them under observation she phoned Police who arrested them about 20m from the home as they were fleeing with stolen property."
And while Police tactics have changed to disrupt criminal behaviour so to have the methods used by offenders to gain access to your property.
While leading up to Christmas there were several reports of opportunist burglars entering homes via open doors and windows and running off with small items Police received a complaint earlier this month of a man visiting a property claiming to from the Department of Labour.
"He was described as a Maori or Polynesian male aged in his early twenties who visited a Fairfield community house and claimed to be an Occupational Safety and Health inspector.
"The man had no i/d and was interested in an outbuilding at the property, the next day that building was found to have been broken into and a lawn mower taken. In cases such as these when you feel something is not right about someone ask for identification and if it still doesn't seem right, contact Police."
Enquiries with the Department of Labour revealed they had no inspectors matching the man's description and that representatives carried identification and would have warrants authorising them to inspect a specific property.
"This is another case of people using a ruse or props to gain access to homes, people will recall Police warnings regarding the basketball burglar, the man 'looking' for his cat, another for his son and dodgy tree pruners and charity collectors, the bottom line is if you believe something is suspicious call Police," said Mr Lindsay.
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