Crime Statistics for calendar year ending 31 December 2006

These documents provide the Summary of Recorded and Resolved Offence Statistics broken down into 12 districts plus one national publication. This includes a variance in crime rates from 2005-2006 as well as documenting the reasons for the movement in crime statistics. They were released 2 April 2007 and cover calendar year ending 31 December 2006.

A new report has been prepared to complement the publication of New Zealand's official recorded crime statistics for the 2006 calendar year. It contains statistics for the July to December periods within 2005 and 2006, and compares changes in recorded crime between these periods. Summary statistics are provided at national level and for each Police District, comparing recorded crime for the July to December periods. A breakdown by Offence Category and Offence Class is included.

This has been necessary because in June 2005 Police replaced the IT system it used to record crime, causing a single step-change in recorded crime statistics from that date. As a consequence, recorded crime statistics prior to this date are not comparable with recorded crime statistics after this date. The regular reports published by Police compare figures for the full calendar year which, for 1995, spans the date on which the IT system was replaced. Comparison of 2005 full-year figures with those for 2006 will therefore not be appropriate.

For a fuller description of the impacts of the IT system upgrade in June 2005, readers are referred to the report published in September 2006 by Axist Consulting New Zealand Limited entitled "Understanding Recent Movements in Crime Statistics".