Counting Crime: Herald series set to lift the lid on offending in New Zealand

During the week we will speak to victims and police about the crimes that most affect New Zealanders. Photo / 123RF

Every year thousands of Kiwis become victims of crime.

Burglaries, robberies, assaults, thefts - you name it, it is happening in every part of the community each and every day.

Tomorrow the Herald launches Counting Crime, a week-long series that looks at offending in New Zealand, who is affected by it, when and where.

Police reporters Anna Leask and Sam Hurley and data editor Harkanwal Singh have teamed up to analyse police crime data and investigate what drives offenders and how victims are affected.

Counting Crime will look at a different crime type each day, starting with vehicle thefts and break ins.

During the week we will speak to victims and police about the crimes that most affect New Zealanders, and what people can do to avoid falling victim to offenders.

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Our series is based on police data about victims of crime - the number of people who have reported offences against them from July 2014 until the end of 2016.

Singh has crunched police information to meshblock level - a small geographic area based on Census boundaries - and this can be viewed on Herald Insights from tomorrow.

Through the interactive map we can reveal when crimes are most likely to happen, and where.

Herald Insights uses data as a source for stories rather than anecdotes, to help people understand the numbers driving the news.

Stories are told through text, interactive graphics and maps, giving readers the ability to dig deep into data that matters to New Zealanders.

As a result of our analysis we can also reveal the highest-crime neighbourhoods are across the country, based on the number of people who reported incidents to police.

And, we can tell you the day and time you are most likely to become a victim of crime where you live - and what the most reported offences are within your community.

Counting Crime starts tomorrow in the Herald and will run each day during the week.

For more information, visit the

Herald Insights

page

here .