Crimes in Wairarapa dropped by more than 7 per cent last year, according to the latest police statistics. In tandem with the drop came an improvement in the crime clearance rate.
Last year Wairarapa police dealt with 4616 reported crimes, down from 4973 in 2009 but up on 4428 reported in 2008.
The resolution rate was 50.4 per cent, the first time in at least three years it has climbed above the halfway mark.
On a crimes per population basis Wairarapa's record was poorer as the district reported 1146 crimes per 10,000 population, ahead of all four other areas that make up the wider Wellington police district, namely Wellington City, Upper Hutt, Lower Hutt and Kapiti-Mana but nevertheless lower than in 2009.
Overall reported crimes in the Wellington region are at their lowest since 2005.
But the fall in reported crime has not convinced everyone that things have improved.
Former Greytown man Kim Workman, who is director of Rethinking Crime and Punishment, said the 6.8 per cent drop nationwide may have little to do with more police officers, tasers, digital communications or crime fighting.
"It may have more to do with the public's reluctance to report offences to police," he said.
Mr Workman said an NZ Crime and Safety Survey published last year "puts the issue of who reports crime into perspective".
He said while victims who had been part of the survey were prepared to report property offences, violence offences were "seriously under-reported".
Mr Workman said 94 per cent of assaults and 62 per cent of robberies and thefts were not captured in police statistics.
"The prospect of carloads of police arriving to investigate an assault or robbery armed with Tasers and firearms may, in fact, discourage people from seeking help."
Mr Workman said of those who chose not to report offences to the police, 24 per cent said they felt the police either could not, or would not, have done anything to help, or where too busy to deal with the matter.
"Another 20 per cent said they considered the matter to be private."
Mr Workman said police could take a lot of credit for the survey result that showed a drop in the incidence of confrontational offences by partners from 22 crimes per 100 adults in 2005, to 14 per 100 in 2008.
He said instead of responding to family violence by arresting and charging the offender on every occasion, police had instead responded to each incident on its merits.
Crime rate falls in Wairarapa
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