Summer is a targeted operation across the wider Auckland area focusing on identifying crime trends and hotspot areas over the busy summer season and proactively trying prevent incidents.
So how do police decide what each investigation will be called?
Over the years there have been a number of methods used to label operations.
Currently, a random name generator churns out a name from the ether and police assign it to the case.
The generator has been specifically designed for naming police investigations.
This is why the operation names never seem to have anything to do with the actual subject of the crime.
Years ago, things were much simpler - for example the investigation into the murder of Ashburton teenager Kirsty Bentley was simply called Operation Kirsty.
Kirsty Bentley. Photograph supplied
In the past police have also used the name of the road that a crime was committed on, like Operation Hamilton, which investigated the murder of Augustine Borrell in Herne Bay in September 2007.
And sometimes, a little humorous licence has been used.
In 2000 an operation targeting underworld figures manufacturing methamphetamine was dubbed "Operation Flower" - because officers nicknamed the hardened crims behind the offending Daisy, Tulip and Pansy.
In 2009 the Herald revealed that criminal investigations in Auckland were codenamed after shades of paint on the Resene colour chart.
The idea behind that was to ensure the names were generic and did not cause offence to anyone.
Examples include Operation Anakiwa - a shade of blue - in which police laid charges against Glenn Mills, 40, who allegedly deliberately infected sexual partners with HIV.
Glenn Mills was charged with infecting three men - aged 17, 24 and 26 - with HIV and attempting to infect a fourth. NZ Herald photograph
Operation Beryl, in which police investigate an alleged international car theft ring, is a hue of green.
At the time Detective Inspector Scott Beard told the
Herald
that the colour list came into effect in late 2008 after senior police officers noted there was "a bit of risk" in some operation code names.
"In years gone past, there have been operation names that have been silly," said Beard.
- centred around the Mongrel Mob in Kawerau and the wider Eastern Bay of Plenty, is an ongoing effort to reduce the social harm caused by methamphetamine.
- a covert investigation targeting a criminal syndicate allegedly making and selling thousands of Ecstasy pills every week. About $14 million worth of assets were seized yesterday in raids.
