Christmas can be a time for unexpected visitors to turn up at the door and that can include officers from the North Shore Police.
All year round officers are rostered to check that people on court bail are abiding by conditions such as night time curfews.
Operations Manager, Inspector Les Paterson says, "It's business as usual during Christmas and those on bail, especially those who it is believed may continue criminal offending such as burglary, can be visited up to three times during a twenty four hour period."
Last week North Shore Police recorded more than 400 bail checks during a seven day shift cycle, almost three times the average amount. During the same period, the North Shore had its lowest number of burglaries in a week for all of 2004, with 23 burglaries recorded.
Inspector Paterson says, "During the year the number of burglaries has been a concern and challenge to the Police with more than 40 burglaries recorded on average each week, but that has now dropped drastically with measures including the increased number of bail checks."
"We aim to keep the number of burglaries down through patrols in certain areas as well as bail checks. Residents can also help by taking appropriate security measures especially if they are going on holiday," says Inspector Paterson.