Number of murders rises sharply

Howard Broad

The number of murders in New Zealand jumped by almost a third in the year to June, statistics released by the police today show.

There were 59 murders in the 12 months to June - up from 45 the previous year. This 31 per cent increase came as the overall amount of recorded crime rose 7 per cent compared to the 2004-05 year.

But police said they had resolved about 13,500 more crimes than in the previous year and Commissioner Howard Broad said the recorded crime rate was nearly 20 per cent down on what it was a decade ago.

Among the high profile killings in the past year are the deaths of the Kahui twins, for which no-one has been arrested, and the discovery of Tony Stanlake's handless body on Owhiro Bay near Wellington. A man has been charged with his murder.

The increases in recorded crime are in the property damage category (15 per cent), violence (10 per cent), drugs and anti-social (6 per cent), and dishonesty (8 per cent).

In Northland there was a 228 per cent increase in methamphetamine, or P, offences, but local police said this was because they had been targeting these crimes.

Nationally, wilful damage - including graffiti tagging by youths - was driving the increase in property damage, police said.

Mr Broad said police were stepping up their joint work on violent crime with local community partners, central government agencies and non-government organisations.

'Sweep up the mess'

"In many ways police are the agency of last resort," he said. "We often have to sweep up the mess of public place and family violence. Ownership of the problem needs to be accepted by the whole community and no New Zealand community can be smug about this issue.

"While problems in South Auckland may dominate the news headlines, violence is endemic throughout the country."

He said some of the increase in recorded offences could be attributed to changes in recording following the change in system from one called the Law Enforcement System (LES) to the National Intelligence Application (NIA).

"It is difficult to quantify precisely just how much of the increase in recorded crime results from the change from the LES to the NIA computer system but a step change certainly occurred around the time of the system conversion," Mr Broad said.

"While the new computer system simply picked up the recording rules from the previous system it made the process itself easier. This has been confirmed by an independent report."

Two districts recorded slight drops in their recorded crime rate - Tasman and Canterbury (both down 3 per cent). In the other ten districts, the most notable increases came in Counties Manukau (up 23 per cent), Waikato (17 per cent) and Eastern (12 per cent).

Police are concentrating their resources north of Taupo in response to the areas where most crime is committed.

Commenting on the road toll, Mr Broad said the number of fatalities at 272 for this calendar year was at a record low. But he added: "The numbers of young people that are dying on our roads is still far too high and represents a tragic waste for the whole community."

Police Minister Annette King congratulated the police on resolving more crime across all categories.

She said: "That is really good news, and it shows that public trust in the police is paying off."

She added: "Clearly some districts, like Counties-Manukau and Waikato, face special problems, and special initiatives are needed in these districts."

Of the 458 new police staff allocated in the first year, 185 of them would be going to the three Auckland districts, she said.

More details on the crime figures:
>> From Statistics NZ
>> From police

- NZHERALD STAFF