Recorded crime has dropped 2.5 percent for the year ended December 1998.
Statistics released today show total recorded crime dropped from 473,547 recorded offences in 1997 to 461,667.
Police Commissioner Peter Doone says he is pleased with the operational results achieved throughout the country, crediting success to the commitment of police staff, the wider efforts of the community and partner agencies and additional frontline staff provided by the Government.
"We have made considerable progress over the past five years and in comparison to 1997 figures," he says.
"The 1998 result continues the trend of recent years which has seen a reduction in reported crime trends evident in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In the five years from 1993 to 1998, overall crime fell 0.2 percent compared to an increase of 22.3 percent from 1988 to 1993.
"Yet there is still an unacceptable level of crime in New Zealand and I want to build on the successes made to date to drive further reductions in crime and improve safety for all New Zealanders.
"The strategies to help achieve this goal are already in place and working. We’re delivering firm but targeted law enforcement and investigation, and increasing our focus in key areas such as violent offending, road safety, dishonesty and youth at risk initiatives.
"We are also working in partnership with other agencies - such as CYPFA, the Crime Prevention Unit, Safer Community Councils and the LTSA - and the community giving us more ideas, more resources and greater impact on crime and road safety."
Commissioner Doone says it is a credit to all staff that police have continued to produce good results despite the ongoing uncertainty caused by the Review of Police and its subsequent restructuring.
"Not only did recorded crime decrease in 1998, the resolution rate for all investigations has improved slightly to 37.9 percent," he says.
Total recorded violent offending remained relatively stable over most of the violence categories with robbery and serious assaults down by 1.4 percent and 2.5 percent respectively.
Grievous assaults are up by 160 offences in 1998 and recorded kidnapping and abduction also increased by 36 offences.
Recorded sexual offences increased by 73 (2.3 percent), but the longer term picture shows sexual offences dropped by nearly 17 percent over the last five years compared to increasing by more than 44.5 percent over the five year period 1988 to 1993.
The 1998 year saw a 6 percent increase in the drugs and antisocial crime category, from a total of 54,052 recorded offences in 1997 to 57,276 in 1998, reflecting an increase in enforcement and street policing.
Domestic Violence Act offences increased 28.4 percent. Some 3,669 offences were recorded in 1998 compared to 2858 in 1997.
"This shows the impact of the Domestic Violence Act introduced in 1995 and illustrates police are enforcing its provisions."
Commissioner Doone says over the past year police have targeted resources into gangs, organised criminal activity, drug and violent offending as key strategic focus areas. This has contributed to increased recording of offences in the drugs and antisocial crime category.
Against this, a significant reduction is evident in the dishonesty crime category, with an overall decrease of 4.1 percent.
"The longer-term trends show promising gains, with the period from 1993 to 1998 revealing a decrease in dishonesty crimes of 7.64 percent," he says.
Burglary figures are down by 2.7 percent to 78,832 in 1998. This figure is well down on the 1993 figure of 88,696 and has dropped again from the 1997 total of 81,027 – an 11 percent cumulative reduction.
Nine of the 12 police districts show a drop in recorded crime. Tasman recorded the biggest drop in recorded crime with 9.5 percent fewer offences than in the previous year. Wellington was not far behind with a recorded 8.2 percent fewer crimes.
Commissioner Doone says road safety remains a core policing priority and performance measurement now places greater reliance on risk targeted patrol plans.
This means the analysis of crash trends over time, together with other road safety information, produces plans that direct patrols to areas of greatest risk.
I’m generally pleased with the downward trend in the road toll evident in the 1998 figure of 504 - the lowest since 1964," he says.
"The police operational emphasis remains on speed, alcohol and safety belt use – reinforced by the gains already made in these areas and the knowledge that these areas are where the greatest road safety gains can be still be made."
The number of drink/drive offences continues to decline. The reduction for the 1998 year was 1.6 percent, down from 31,812 to 31,310 offence notices.
This trend is supported by Land Transport Safety Authority data that shows a continuing decline in the number of drivers killed who have excess alcohol concentrations.
"The encouraging decline in alcohol involvement in fatal crashes has caused speed to become the single greatest factor in fatalities," says Commissioner Doone.
As a result of targeted enforcement, 1998 has seen an increase in the number of recorded speeding offences/infringements (over 100kph) up by 14.3 percent and speeding offences/infringements (under 100kph) up 9.3 percent.
The police emphasis on safety belt enforcement has been maintained for the 1998 year with safety belt offences/infringements up 15.2 percent from 34,942 in 1997 to 40,268 in 1998.
"Despite these gains, I remain concerned about the road toll this year. Driver behaviour and attitudes in the areas of drink-driving, speed, safety belt wearing and a failure to keep left are the main problems.
At present, head on crashes and fatalities are too high, and police are putting extra effort into reducing this.
"Far too many people are killed by not complying with these factors. Police remain committed to strong enforcement in these areas while working with the LTSA and other road safety partners to reduce death and injury on our roads."
Commissioner Doone says while the recorded crime statistics show some encouraging trends, there are other important factors to consider when looking at overall police performance.
A new organisational performance group has been established in the Office of the Commissioner to look at other means of measuring police performance.
"It is likely future releases of crime information will focus on wider performance measures being developed by this group."
Mr Doone says while no final decisions have been made he expects future releases of statistics and other police performance information will be more closely aligned to the timing of police reporting to Parliament.
Released By:
Sarah Martin,
Senior Media Adviser
Office of the Commissioner