Northland police pledge fast burglary response

If your home is burgled expect a Northland police officer to turn up and investigate.

That's the assurance from Northland police deployment manager Inspector Al Symonds following an announcement on Monday by Police Minister Judith Collins that home burglaries would be treated as priority offences from today and police would try to attend all calls from now on.

Officers in Northland were one step ahead and had been treating dwelling burglaries as priorities for the past two months, Mr Symonds said.

"Where someone gets into your house and rummages through your stuff you can expect us to be there as quick as we can.

"We want to be the best police service we can be. If you live in Kohukohu or at the end of Whangarei Heads we will do the best we can do to get there on the day [of the burglary]."

Latest crime statistics show the number of "victimisations" for unlawful entry and burglary in Northland over the past financial year rose to 3645 compared with 3171 for the same period the previous year.

The increase in burglaries meant there were nearly 10 burglary victims a day across Northland.

The new approach has come under fire by Police Association president Greg O'Connor, who said the approach had been tried before and there were not enough officers to cope.

He feared officers working on organised crime and drug policing would be taken away from their jobs to focus on burglaries.

But Mr Symonds said in Northland there were police teams dedicated to dealing with burglaries and the criminal investigation branch officers would continue to investigate organised crime.

The approach could lead to higher resolution rates with officers responding to forensic evidence more urgently to get the best evidence from crime scenes, he said.

"They can expect good service from an officer who wants to listen to them. We are here for Northland people and we want them to feel safe."

Ms Collins said home burglaries would be treated as priority offences and police now aimed to attend nearly all of New Zealand's 35,000 home burglaries a year.

"This shows police are serious about tackling burglary and also sends a clear message to offenders."