HINERANGI VAIMOSO
Napier edged out Hastings in eight out of 11 crime categories last year, according to figures released by Statistics New Zealand, but Hasting topped Napier in the list of cities with the most homicides, sexual violations and burglaries.
Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule said he was tired of the perceptions people had about Hastings and Flaxmere being dangerous and while he was sad to see Hastings appear on the list of serious crimes, he was relieved to see the drop in others.
Five homicides were recorded in Hastings last year, 29 sexual violations and a staggering 1098 burglaries.
"There certainly are some issues we need to address because homicides and rapes are as serious as it gets," Mr Yule said.
"There's been a stigma that I'm sick of where people think every time something goes wrong, it happens in Flaxmere but in most cases, it's not true."
Napier had its fair share of other crime though with 636 car thefts, 22 aggravated robberies and 281 sexual assaults. Both Hawke's Bay cities did badly in the number of minor assaults recorded, Napier came in second in New Zealand as the city with the most minor assaults - 49 offences per 10,000 people followed by Hastings with 47.
Four kidnappings during 2005 saw Napier in ninth place in New Zealand, closely followed by South Auckland.
Napier also came off worse than Hastings in the number of serious assaults per head of population, doing the same with methamphetamine crimes, cannabis crimes and cases that involved males assaulting females.
While Napier's statistics didn't look favourable against Hastings', the city's numbers looked to measure up well on a national scale, appearing on the list of 10 worst cities in just four categories.
Napier crime has dropped in some categories over the years but Mayor Barbara Arnott says it's still not good enough.
"We would rather have no crime at all," Mrs Arnott said.
"We pay more than a half a million dollars a year to put people on the streets for safety patrol. No one can rest on their laurels because I want people to feel safe and secure all the time."
She said the city was expected to get 16 new security cameras placed throughout the CBD in a bid to clamp down on crime.
Napier police area commander, Inspector Kevin Kalff, said they are constantly monitoring crime statistics which allow them to see the areas that need attention.
"We look at what's happening, we analyse the causes and the effects then we look at ways we can best use our resources to minimise the problem," Mr Kalff said.
"For the past 18 months, we've been putting a fair bit of effort into thefts from cars and we always put pressure on the burglary cases."
Mr Kalff said a slam on minor assaults in the city has been helped along by the success of the liquor ban and assistance of community support groups.
One statistic that surprised the Hastings mayor was the number of recorded methamphetamine crimes in the city but Hastings police area commander, Inspector Dean Clifford, said there were hidden factors.
"While those numbers show captures that have been made in relation to methamphetamine, it doesn't show the effect the drug has on other crime," Mr Clifford said.
"We know that it plays a significant role in people's lives here and it's a big focus for us because it can act as a trigger to other offences."
Bay takes a criminal hit
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