Recorded crime down – Resolved crime up
Download Crime Statistics at: http://www.police.govt.nz/service/statistics
A 4.7% drop in the number of recorded crimes and an increase from 43.7% to 45.1% in the rate of resolved crime are among the many highlights of the Official Police Crime Statistics released today by the Commissioner Rob Robinson.
The drop in recorded crime this year equates to a decline in crime rate of 6.5% per 10,000 head of population.
"The continuing increase in the rate of resolved crime is also most encouraging with the highest resolution rate (45.1%) in 20 years.
"Police strategies to reduce the incidence of crime are beginning to really bite. The overwhelmingly positive results really do confirm the continuing downward trend of recorded crime in New Zealand over the past eight years.
"Perhaps the most pleasing result has been in the Counties Manukau District which recorded the largest drop in overall crime rate of 16.5%, followed by Central District with 12.8%, Auckland City 11.8% and North Shore Waitakere with 5.3%.
"The three Auckland district results reflect a major turnaround in the battle against crime in the most populated region in the country and reflects good work in the past year but also reflects the effort in making changes over the past five years," said Mr Robinson.
"Of the crime categories there was a significant decrease of 6.7% in the numbers of dishonesty offences attributed largely to a reduction in the numbers of offences for car conversion and theft, and fraud. While dwelling burglaries saw a slight rise the overall burglary rate per 10,000 head of population continued a downwards trend, reducing by 2.2%.
"Recorded Sexual offences reduced by 4%, while violence recorded a 1% reduction, halting the run of increases over the previous three years.
"All twelve Police districts recorded reductions in overall crime rate per head of population.
Violence
The 1% reduction in recorded offences in the Violence category translates to a 2.9% reduction per head of population, when calibrated against the population growth over the last year.
Homicide offences were down 7.4% with 46 murders recorded for the year, (last year 57) the lowest since 1998. While these are significant events, New Zealand is fortunate these numbers are as small as they are.
Sexual Offences
The decrease in the number of recorded sexual offences of 4% was attributable mainly to offences for sexual affronts and sexual attacks continuing the downward trend from last year, each dropping by a further 6%.
Drugs and anti social
The apparent increase in Drugs and Antisocial offences of 2.9% is the result of reclassification of liquor ban breaches. Previously these were recorded in the Administrative offences category. Adjusting for this, Drugs and Antisocial offences reduced by 6%. Just over 5,000 liquor ban breaches were recorded, reflecting the significant use of liquor bans by local authorities.
Police will continue to work closely with local authorities and organisations to reduce the level of alcohol-related crime.
A new offence class ‘Drugs (New Drugs)’ was introduced in July 2003 to capture offences relating to emerging drugs, such as amphetamines. Previously offences involving these drugs were captured in the Drugs (Not Cannabis)’ offence class. Combining these offence classes, non-cannabis offences increased from 3,088 to 3,978, an increase of 28.8%, driven by the increased manufacture, use and policing of amphetamine type substances (ATS) including methamphetamines (including ‘P’).
190 clandestine laboratories were closed down in this financial year.
Police would like to thank members of the community who have taken this problem seriously and assisted Police in combating it. For example, a number of pharmacists have cooperated with police in providing intelligence on who is purchasing chemicals that can be used in the manufacture of illegal drugs.
Later this year, Police will launch a national research programme called Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) which will shed even greater light on the connection between drugs, including alcohol, and crime. The findings from ADAM will help put some solid numbers behind what front-line officers have been telling us for some time about the links between substance misuse, offending and victimisation.
Already a pilot study conducted in Counties Manukau has found that alcohol, cannabis and amphetamine/methamphetamine were the drug types arrestees reported using most often just before arrest.
Dishonesty
An 8.3% reduction in the number of car conversion related offences is particularly pleasing, as Police in several districts have given vehicle crime a strong focus, partnering with local authorities and other organisations to identify crime hot spots and take appropriate action.
Burglaries were down slightly on last year, from 60,816 to 60,630, while burglary from dwellings rose slightly from 37,736 to 38,619. This growth is roughly comparably with population growth, meaning that the victimisation rate for dwelling burglaries remained approximately the same as last year.
The static nature of dwelling burglaries should be seen against an overall decline of 22.3% since 1996/97 or 27.8% per 10,000 head of population.
Property and administrative offences
Districts have implemented processes whereby people on bail are being checked regularly to ensure they are complying with court imposed bail conditions.
Police have also continued working closely with schools and education authorities to reduce truancy that has also helped to reduce the incidence of petty crime.
The 24.7% apparent reduction in Administrative offences is due to the recording practice change involving the reclassification of liquor ban offences out of this category and into the Drugs and Antisocial category. If these offences had still been counted in this category, there would have been a 5.9% increase in Administrative offences.
Road Policing
Road Policing represents 21% of the services provided by Police. The road fatalities total for the 2003/04 financial year was 447 deaths. Deaths on state highways increased by 13.6% - from 213 to 242.
"Speeding still remains one of the most common factors in fatal and serious injury road crashes and underpins the Police focus on reducing speeding on our roads. It is interesting to note that, despite predictions to the contrary, in the year in review the number of speed camera infringements dropped by 2%. This indicates an encouraging and increasing level of compliance with the speed limits."
Vehicle safety officers inspected 9,836 commercial vehicles and found mechanical fault with 42.9% of those vehicles resulting in 1,979 defective vehicles being ordered off the road.
There will be a continuing emphasis on the policing of the heavy motor vehicle fleet to ensure these vehicles are operated in safe condition to enhance safety for all road users.
Summary
"I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank members of Police who have worked so hard over the past year to achieve these results, often under trying circumstances. Alongside the Police staff have been many community volunteers and many people in central and local government who have contributed through partnerships to achieve these results.
"At the time of the establishment of the Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct earlier in the year I suggested to staff that the best way we could maintain public confidence in our organisation at this time was through day to day actions.
"I am delighted by the excellent performance of members of Police right across the country.
"I can assure everyone that, for our part, we will not be satisfied until we have achieved even better results in our crime and crash reduction campaign to make our communities safer," said Commissioner Robinson.
Official Crime Statistics are available on Recorded crime down – Resolved crime up
A 4.7% drop in the number of recorded crimes and an increase from 43.7% to 45.1% in the rate of resolved crime are among the many highlights of the Official Police Crime Statistics released today by the Commissioner Rob Robinson.
The drop in recorded crime this year equates to a decline in crime rate of 6.5% per 10,000 head of population.
"The continuing increase in the rate of resolved crime is also most encouraging with the highest resolution rate (45.1%) in 20 years.
"Police strategies to reduce the incidence of crime are beginning to really bite. The overwhelmingly positive results really do confirm the continuing downward trend of recorded crime in New Zealand over the past eight years.
"Perhaps the most pleasing result has been in the Counties Manukau District which recorded the largest drop in overall crime rate of 16.5%, followed by Central District with 12.8%, Auckland City 11.8% and North Shore Waitakere with 5.3%.
"The three Auckland district results reflect a major turnaround in the battle against crime in the most populated region in the country and reflects good work in the past year but also reflects the effort in making changes over the past five years," said Mr Robinson.
"Of the crime categories there was a significant decrease of 6.7% in the numbers of dishonesty offences attributed largely to a reduction in the numbers of offences for car conversion and theft, and fraud. While dwelling burglaries saw a slight rise the overall burglary rate per 10,000 head of population continued a downwards trend, reducing by 2.2%.
"Recorded Sexual offences reduced by 4%, while violence recorded a 1% reduction, halting the run of increases over the previous three years.
"All twelve Police districts recorded reductions in overall crime rate per head of population.
Violence
The 1% reduction in recorded offences in the Violence category translates to a 2.9% reduction per head of population, when calibrated against the population growth over the last year.
Homicide offences were down 7.4% with 46 murders recorded for the year, (last year 57) the lowest since 1998. While these are significant events, New Zealand is fortunate these numbers are as small as they are.
Sexual Offences
The decrease in the number of recorded sexual offences of 4% was attributable mainly to offences for sexual affronts and sexual attacks continuing the downward trend from last year, each dropping by a further 6%.
Drugs and anti social
The apparent increase in Drugs and Antisocial offences of 2.9% is the result of reclassification of liquor ban breaches. Previously these were recorded in the Administrative offences category. Adjusting for this, Drugs and Antisocial offences reduced by 6%. Just over 5,000 liquor ban breaches were recorded, reflecting the significant use of liquor bans by local authorities.
Police will continue to work closely with local authorities and organisations to reduce the level of alcohol-related crime.
A new offence class ‘Drugs (New Drugs)’ was introduced in July 2003 to capture offences relating to emerging drugs, such as amphetamines. Previously offences involving these drugs were captured in the Drugs (Not Cannabis)’ offence class. Combining these offence classes, non-cannabis offences increased from 3,088 to 3,978, an increase of 28.8%, driven by the increased manufacture, use and policing of amphetamine type substances (ATS) including methamphetamines (including ‘P’).
190 clandestine laboratories were closed down in this financial year.
Police would like to thank members of the community who have taken this problem seriously and assisted Police in combating it. For example, a number of pharmacists have cooperated with police in providing intelligence on who is purchasing chemicals that can be used in the manufacture of illegal drugs.
Later this year, Police will launch a national research programme called Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) which will shed even greater light on the connection between drugs, including alcohol, and crime. The findings from ADAM will help put some solid numbers behind what front-line officers have been telling us for some time about the links between substance misuse, offending and victimisation.
Already a pilot study conducted in Counties Manukau has found that alcohol, cannabis and amphetamine/methamphetamine were the drug types arrestees reported using most often just before arrest.
Dishonesty
An 8.3% reduction in the number of car conversion related offences is particularly pleasing, as Police in several districts have given vehicle crime a strong focus, partnering with local authorities and other organisations to identify crime hot spots and take appropriate action.
Burglaries were down slightly on last year, from 60,816 to 60,630, while burglary from dwellings rose slightly from 37,736 to 38,619. This growth is roughly comparably with population growth, meaning that the victimisation rate for dwelling burglaries remained approximately the same as last year.
The static nature of dwelling burglaries should be seen against an overall decline of 22.3% since 1996/97 or 27.8% per 10,000 head of population.
Property and administrative offences
Districts have implemented processes whereby people on bail are being checked regularly to ensure they are complying with court imposed bail conditions.
Police have also continued working closely with schools and education authorities to reduce truancy that has also helped to reduce the incidence of petty crime.
The 24.7% apparent reduction in Administrative offences is due to the recording practice change involving the reclassification of liquor ban offences out of this category and into the Drugs and Antisocial category. If these offences had still been counted in this category, there would have been a 5.9% increase in Administrative offences.
Road Policing
Road Policing represents 21% of the services provided by Police. The road fatalities total for the 2003/04 financial year was 447 deaths. Deaths on state highways increased by 13.6% - from 213 to 242.
"Speeding still remains one of the most common factors in fatal and serious injury road crashes and underpins the Police focus on reducing speeding on our roads. It is interesting to note that, despite predictions to the contrary, in the year in review the number of speed camera infringements dropped by 2%. This indicates an encouraging and increasing level of compliance with the speed limits."
Vehicle safety officers inspected 9,836 commercial vehicles and found mechanical fault with 42.9% of those vehicles resulting in 1,979 defective vehicles being ordered off the road.
There will be a continuing emphasis on the policing of the heavy motor vehicle fleet to ensure these vehicles are operated in safe condition to enhance safety for all road users.
Summary
"I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank members of Police who have worked so hard over the past year to achieve these results, often under trying circumstances. Alongside the Police staff have been many community volunteers and many people in central and local government who have contributed through partnerships to achieve these results.
"At the time of the establishment of the Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct earlier in the year I suggested to staff that the best way we could maintain public confidence in our organisation at this time was through day to day actions.
"I am delighted by the excellent performance of members of Police right across the country.
"I can assure everyone that, for our part, we will not be satisfied until we have achieved even better results in our crime and crash reduction campaign to make our communities safer," said Commissioner Robinson.
Download Crime Statistics at: http://www.police.govt.nz/service/statistics
ENDS
Supplied by Media Relations 04 474 9482
ENDS
Supplied by Media Relations 04 474 9482