A new crime fighting initiative means the Waikato public can now view images and details of wanted people in their District on the Police website.
Waikato District Manager of Intelligence, Detective Inspector Hywel Jones said today's launch follows earlier successful trials in the Wellington and Eastern Police Districts on www.police.govt.nz/stolenwanted/wanted-to-arrest
"Individuals feature on the site either because they are wanted to arrest or need to be identified in relation to a crime, for example as a suspect or witness."
"11 people in the Waikato will be featured in today's launch."
Mr Jones said the site is an additional tool for police to help track down offenders and is going to give Police a wider audience of people with potential information about those we're looking for.
"We will still be using local traditional media, shows like Police Ten 7 and social media to track down people, but offenders can move about pretty quickly, so having a national site gives us access to extra pairs of eyes out there,"
"New Zealand Police has one of the highest levels of public support in the world which we are grateful for. The challenge for us is to how best harness this goodwill to the best advantage both for Police and the community and this is another way for people to help us get offenders off the street."
The wanted site has two sections, one for people who are wanted to arrest on criminal charges and another for people who are "wanted to identify".
"The wanted to identify postings are people who Police are interested in speaking with in connection to a crime or incident.
"These people may have been caught on CCTV or security cameras and we will post a still shot of the footage on the site."
Mr Jones said not all people who are wanted by Police will appear on the site. An image will only be posted if there are reasons of urgency, or the person cannot reasonably be located by other means.
"If someone has information about a person on this site or their activities, we're asking them to contact Police on 111 or their local police station which in the Waikato can be reached by the centralised phone number, 07 858 6200.
"Alternatively, if they don't want to speak to Police directly, they can call Crimestoppers and provide information anonymously on 0800 555111.
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