A Whangarei carpenter has criticised police for not immediately attending to a complaint of burglary at his property, including damage to two vehicles, despite ringing them twice.
Mahesh Prasad said his family slept in fear the whole night on Thursday as police did not even bother checking the scale of damage that occurred at his Tarewa Rd house.
But the police area commander for Whangarei/Kaipara, Inspector Tracy Phillips, said her officers could have achieved nothing by rushing off to a callout when those responsible had already left.
She said although it appeared that her officers should have attended, information received at the time the calls were made led them to believe the offenders had left the scene 30 minutes before the police were contacted.
Police gave priority to reports if offenders were at the scene, she said.