Police place wanted list on website

Rotorua and Bay of Plenty criminals could soon find themselves on a police Wanted Persons website.

The national website was launched this week but is used only by police in Wellington and Eastern districts.

Police in other areas will soon begin to use the site to upload images of people who are wanted.

National crime manager Detective Superintendent Rod Drew said 31 wanted people featured on the site, a number which would grow when other police districts started to use the website.

 

The site has two sections: one for people who are wanted for arrest on criminal charges and another for people who police want to identify.

Mr Drew said the site was an additional tool for police to help track down offenders.

"It's going to give us a much broader audience of people with potential information about those we're looking for,'' he said.

"We will still be using local media and Police Ten 7 to help us track down people, but offenders can move about pretty quickly, so having a national site gives us extra eyes out there.''

Not all people who are wanted by police will appear on the site. An image will  be posted only if there are reasons of urgency, or the person cannot reasonably be located by other means.

"New Zealand police has a high level of support from the public, which we are grateful for. This is another way for people to help us get offenders off the street,'' Mr Drew said.

"These people may have been caught on CCTV cameras and we will post a still shot of the footage on the site.''

Bay of Plenty police district commander Superintendent Glenn Dunbier said he was looking forward to making use of the website.

"Experience has shown us that this sort of publicity works, whether it be through the TV and newspapers or the internet and social media,'' he said.

"It is a last resort and shouldn't replace good old-fashioned police work, but managed carefully can be an extremely beneficial tool to get offenders off the streets.''