Whanganui Area Commander Inspector Nigel Allan says police are still working closely with other agencies such as the Whanganui DHB. Photo / File
Whanganui Area Commander Inspector Nigel Allan says police are still working closely with other agencies such as the Whanganui DHB. Photo / File
Police in the Whanganui region have seen a reduction of crime since Covid-19 restrictions when the region's crime profile significantly changed.
Whanganui-Ruapehū area commander Nigel Allen said the crime decrease was the highest during level 4 restrictions.
In early April, Allan said the crime profile had changed a lot duringthe first few weeks of alert level 4, with a reduction of burglaries and dishonesty offending.
Since then he said those crimes had increased compared to what they were in level 4, but there had been less reported compared to pre-pandemic levels.
Although he could not comment on what was influencing people's behaviour and the reason behind reduced crime, Allan said police wanted to understand what was happening in the community and this could be done by reporting crime.
For instance, if a car was broken into and nothing of value stolen, Allan said it was still important to report the break-in.
"Although there may be little the police can or will do in some circumstances, the fact is it's important that we know about it because a lot of what we do is actually look at the crime that we know has happened in the last week or few days and actually make tactical decisions on the basis of what's happening," he said.
"If crimes are happening, we want to know about them and we absolutely encourage people if they have been a victim of a crime to report it."
Burglaries and dishonest offending have risen again in Whanganui since level 4 but reports are not as high as before the lockdown. Photo / Bevan Conley
Allan said during the early weeks of alert level 4 there had been a slight increase in the reporting of family harm and that was expected "in the context of current restrictions".
Now, under alert level 1, he said family harm episodes continued to be reported at a higher level than historically.
"But that's not necessarily a negative thing because what the police and our partners are working hard to do is to create an environment where there is an opportunity for people to actually seek support and to report matters."
He said more family harm incidents were being reported.
"From a police perspective we are really conscious of the potential longer impacts of the pandemic for our communities and we are working hard to connect with our partners and our communities so that we're best positioned if we see in an increase in one particular area and are connecting across our social services to get the best outcome."
Under alert level 1, police had largely gone back to a more "normal" policing role.
"We continue to look for opportunities to increase our resources and our ability to focus on that prevention area."
He said working through an integrated emergency operating model during the lockdown was hugely beneficial and police continued to work with agencies, in particular the Whanganui DHB.
A main focus is on road safety, as winter is a higher-risk period.
Not only will they have higher visibility on the roads but they are encouraging people to remember the basics of driving to the conditions, wearing a seatbelt, driving at an appropriate speed and not driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
