Sex assaults double in Western Bay

Police say the increase in some crime statistics reflects the fact that people are more willing to report crime.

Sexual assaults and related offences more than doubled in the Western Bay in 2014, according to latest police statistics.

The crime statistics for the Western Bay, released yesterday, showed there were 74 sexual assaults and related offences recorded in 2013 compared to 163 last year - an increase of more than 120 per cent.

Overall, recorded crime has gone down 0.4 per cent in the Western Bay of Plenty.

In 2013, there were a total 11,223 offences recorded compared to 11,179 last year.

Across the entire Bay of Plenty police district, crime has dropped 3.6 per cent, from 31,433 recorded offences in 2013 to 30,288 recorded offences in 2014.

Western Bay of Plenty Police area commander Inspector Clifford Paxton said sexual assault statistics fluctuated from time to time and it was pleasing to see people had the confidence and trust to report these offences to police.

"A lot of emphasis has gone into reporting family violence and there has been significant attention around sexual assault and related offences through that awareness. "In terms of family violence, there's been lots of work with It's Not OK and encouraging people to report offending."

Tauranga Living Without Violence general manager Mary Beresford-Jones said sexual assaults were "incredibly" under-reported. "With family violence, it's about 18 per cent of incidents that get reported and I think sexual assaults is even less than that. If it is that more people are reporting it, then that's good." Mrs Beresford-Jones said family violence, including sexual assault, was "very prevalent" in Tauranga.

Fraud, deception and related offences reported to the police increased 75.6 per cent from 246 in 2013 to 432 in 2014.

Mr Paxton said police had seen increased reporting of electronic fraud on websites such as Trademe and Facebook.

Recorded offences against justice procedures, government security and government operations increased by 27.2 per cent. Mr Paxton said this category related to offences such as breaching protection orders, breaching restraining orders and resisting arrest.

He said increasing awareness and attention around the It's Not OK campaign was behind the increase in reporting breaches of protection orders.

Tauranga Sensible Sentencing Trust spokesman Ken Evans said people did not fear the law enough which was why crime was increasing.

"If people don't fear retribution, then they are more likely to commit crime.

"Our court system continually goes soft on these people. They think they've got a chance of getting away with it easily and if they do get caught, they won't get much anyway."

Nationally, recorded sexual assault and related offences rose 11.6 per cent from 3919 in 2013 to 4056 last year.

Sexual assault and related offences increased by 11.4 per cent in Hamilton, 15 per cent in Rotorua and 48 per cent in Wellington. In Hawke's Bay, sexual assault and related offences dropped 5.6 per cent and in Taranaki they dropped 36.6.