Crime up, stats show burglaries to blame

Burglaries are the main reason behind an increase in reported crime in New Zealand over the last year.

The official crime statistics for the year ending July 2016 were released today showing 11,171 more people were victims of offending than the year before.

The increase equate to a 2.3 per cent rise in crime.

Police Minister Judith Collins said more than three quarters of the increase could be attributed to burglaries.

Nationally, burglaries were up by 11.9 per cent from last year.

Auckland City was the only police district where burglaries numbers dropped.

The area had 10 per cent less burglaries than the 2014/15 year.

"There is no doubt in my mind that police are taking this increase in the burglary rate very seriously," Collins said.

The Herald revealed on Monday that as of this week police will attend every single household burglary.

Furthermore, they had raised house burglaries from a volume crime - encompassing general property theft - to a priority offence.

"These changes show that police recognise the significant impact that burglary has on individual, families and communities, and that they are committed to reducing this type of crime and increasing resolution rates," said Collins today.

In March, the Herald's Hitting Home series revealed that 164 burglaries went unsolved each day in the year to December 3 - a resolution rate of just 9.3 per cent.