A burglary reported every 7 minutes as recorded crime rate jumps in NZ

Burglary and Crime Rates in New Zealand are on the rise again for the first time in many years.

Reports in the New Zealand media have indicated that crime rates are increasing, with even the Police Minister Paula Bennett seeing the rise in crime as a concern.

The article on the Stuff website shows that despite a steady drop in crime during the 5 years to 2014, it’s on the way up again with burglaries alone jumping 16% throughout NZ last year. The tally at year end was 74,182, and that’s just the figure for reported burglaries. There are always a number of largely unreported crimes, so this number will be larger.

The areas with the largest reported increases in crime included:

Taranaki
Nelson Bays
Hawke’s Bay
Waikato East.

Nine other districts had increases in crime, with places such as Wellington, Auckland City and Canterbury seeing a reduction.

Unfortunately, and as expected given population sizes, Auckland City led the way in New Zealand for the most burglaries during the year (over 36,900), even thought that figure is down from the previous year. Counties Manukau (36,700), Wellington (27,000) and Canterbury (30,700) closely followed the Auckland rates

Hopefully the promised increases in Police numbers will have some impact on burglary rates, with 1000 more police planned for the next 4 years. We always think of NZ as a safe country with less of these types of problems than other places, and it’d be nice to see that being the reality again.

The impact of burglaries, especially when houses and their contents are turned upside down, can be quite significant. Another story reported by Stuff on a break-in in Palmerston North back in January gives a bit of an insight into what the effects can be, especially when personal items and items handed down within families are taken.

We do recommend protecting your home and possessions and believe that CleverLoop camera systems are one of the best ways to look after your home.

If you are interested in reading the entire Stuff article about nationwide crime rates, and what they are for your specific region, it can be found at this web address.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/88971054/a-burglary-reported-every-7-minutes-as-recorded-crime-rate-jumps

And the Palmerston North article is here:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/news/88544568/Thieves-steal-nearly-everything-not-even-sparing-womans-underwear