While most residents were sleeping, 50 people in Northland were woken early yesterday to the sound of police banging on their doors to chase up outstanding warrants to arrest.
Police in the Whangarei and Kaipara District from all ranks were out executing search warrants at the crack of dawn, hoping
to find wanted people while they slept in their beds.
Whangarei police teams followed up on 40 warrants to arrest people in the district for a variety of crimes, including burglary and domestic violence. They nabbed 14 justice-dodgers, and discovered leads to follow on others who were not at home when the dawn raids occurred.
Senior Sergeant Cliff Metcalfe said the focus was on people with a high rate of offending.
"We are targeting high volume offenders, to stop recidivist crime. These are the top offenders in the Whangarei District. We have up to five warrants to arrest on some of these."