Violence the scar on crime stats

Violence continues to be the Achilles' heel for Whangarei police, with a 12 per cent increase in violent crime last month compared to the corresponding period last year.
According to the March crime report, total reported offences reduced by 2 per cent, with the exception of family violence.
Motor vehicle crimes reduced by 43 per cent, theft of cars by 34 per cent and home burglaries by 33 per cent.
The figures were presented by Inspector Paul Dimery, police area commander for Whangarei and Kaipara, at the Whangarei District Council meeting this week.
Deputy Mayor Kahu Sutherland said the latest police report of crime going down contradicted cases published in the media of violent criminal activities.
He said a brawl involving 100 to 200 gang members on Raumanga's Warwick Place on February 29 didn't reflect reports of a decrease in crime that month. Nine people were arrested and two taken to hospital with injuries inflicted by broken bottles during the brawl.
"I wonder whether those statistics are being based on reported crimes and whether there's an issue where people are not reporting a lot of these incidents," Mr Sutherland said.
Mr Dimery said he was confident family violence has been under-reported, which could be improved through advertising.
He said people didn't want to hear good stories, which also didn't sell on the front page of the newspapers.
Mr Dimery said he was satisfied public confidence in police was very high and urged people to report crimes.
Police issued 1740 infringement notices, 185 traffic offence tickets and 53 excess-breath-alcohol prosecutions were completed last month.
Mr Dimery said there were 271 arrests, 1079 bail checks, 47 voluntary DNAs, 76 domestic-violence incidents and 23 vehicle crashes attended to.
Whangarei experienced two alleged aggravated robberies in the four days before the meeting.
Two service stations in Tikipunga were robbed on Sunday and Wednesday, men allegedly armed with knives and other weapons taking cash and cigarettes.
A 16-year-old youth appeared in the Whangarei Youth Court yesterday facing a charge of aggravated robbery in relation to the Mobile service station incident.
A 17-year-old man will appear in the Whangarei Court today to face charges of burglary from a Kamo commercial premises and aggravated robbery in relation to the Gasoline Alley Service Station incident.
A 19-year-old man will also appear facing charges of aggravated robbery in respect of both incidents.
Police inquiries are continuing into the robberies.