KEY POINTS:
Police say more crime is being reported across the country because of growing community intolerance towards our "national disgrace" - domestic violence. More than 52,000 cases of violence, from homicide and serious assault to intimidation and threats, were reported to police throughout the country in the year ending
June 2007.
That was 4.4 per cent more than in the previous year, but police say part of that increase reflects the continuing focus on domestic violence and the community's intolerance of it through reporting more cases.
Women's Refuge said the increase in violent crime helped to show the true extent of the job facing groups working to combat domestic violence.
Chief executive of the National Collective of Independent Women's Refuges, Heather Henare, said while some of the increase could be attributed to better reporting and more awareness, the figures in themselves were still a national disgrace.
"What we have to remember, and that the police acknowledge, is that the crime reported is just part of what is actually happening, and that is certainly true in terms of domestic violence."
Ms Henare said the message was still not getting through to many men that violence was completely unacceptable and lives continued to be lost.
"It is an absolute tragedy so many women and children are the victims of violence every day and it is taking a shocking toll on whanau."
Preventing Violence in the Home chief executive Jane Drumm said high-profile cases, such as the deaths of the Kahui twins, and publicity campaigns, meant family violence was becoming less acceptable.
But Ms Drumm said it was hard to say if the extra reporting of it was as a result of publicity or because there was more family violence occurring.
Police Minister Annette King said the campaign to encourage people to report domestic violence would continue, even if it meant violent crime statistics kept rising in the future.
"Of course no one likes to see the number of recorded offences in this area going up, but I would far rather that continues to happen than that domestic violence remains the hidden evil in our society that police suspects it has been in the past."
While the latest police statistics showed that violence overall was up, the number of murders, kidnappings and robberies all dropped.
Disorder and group assembly type offences increased, as did sex crimes.
However, new drug offences, which include methamphetamine, dropped by 7.7 per cent - an improvement on the previous year when they doubled.
Ms King said while there was still much more to be done to bring down the level of violence she praised the work of police.
"Police staff have done a great job in resolving more crime and in focusing on specific crimes in specific areas to bring down the number of recorded offences.
"There has been an actual reduction in recorded offences in seven of the 12 police districts, and police staff serving in those districts will feel specially proud of what they have achieved.
"Police are too often easy targets for criticism, but by and large New Zealanders know the truth - that we have an efficient and hard-working police service that is committed to making our communities safer places to live in."
But National Party Justice spokesman Simon Power said the latest statistics showed an alarming rise in violent crime which was part of an upward trend since the Government was elected.
Since 1999-2000, violence has risen by 32 per cent, robberies by 55 per cent, grievous assaults by 70 per cent and sex crimes by 15 per cent.
"These figures are an indictment on Labour's crime prevention strategies and make a joke of claims they are on top of the problem."