Only one thing beats catching crooks as far as Detective Sergeant Trevor Beatson is concerned - and that's returning stolen property to its rightful owners.
It had been busy in Kaitaia over recent weeks in terms of burglars taking big ticket items he said, so he had led a team to slow the thieves down.
Five properties were raided and four men arrested on charges including burglary, serious assaults and drug-related offending, the result of what he described as "some good police work, good old-fashioned crook-catching," but the greatest pleasure was returning stolen property to the rightful owners.
While the raids had produced a lot of high-value electronic items, victims' failure to record serial numbers often made it difficult to prove they were stolen, however. That's where the new website www.snap.org.nz came in and Mr Beatson urged people to sign up.
Anyone with information about active burglars, or the whereabouts of stolen property, was urged to contact Detective Sergeant Beatson's team at the Kaitaia police station, phone 408-6500, or to phone Crimestoppers (anonymously) on 0800 555-111.
