Police have burglars on the run

By EUGENE BINGHAM political reporter

Burglars are being squeezed in a police vice generated by pressure on career criminals and a commitment to attend all crime scenes.

Police now take an average of seven hours to turn up after a break-in complaint, in line with a Government demand that victims receive "same-day service."

Early reports indicate that the tough new policy is working, with some parts of Auckland recording a 10 per cent drop in burglaries over the past 12 months.

The Avondale-based Auckland Central-West burglary squad watched burglaries drop an average of 30 per cent a month in April-June.

"The contributing factor is that we've turned our attention to recidivist offenders," said the squad head, Detective Sergeant Mike Ledger.

"We're catching the people who are committing 80 per cent of the crime in our area."

If there was a fault in the system, he said, it was that burglars were not receiving long enough sentences.

Police Minister George Hawkins told the Herald yesterday that he was pleased with indications that burglary figures were falling.

"Since I was made minister, police have had to report to me every month on burglary, because that is the crime that annoys most people."

Mr Hawkins announced a crackdown in April, including the requirement that police respond to burglaries within 24 hours.

Yesterday, he released figures showing that the national average for responding was seven hours 11 minutes, though southern centres performed much better than northern cities. The northern communications centre, which included the Northland, Auckland, Waikato and the Bay of Plenty, had an average response time of nine hours.

Mr Hawkins said he had made it part of the police contract that they attend 97 per cent of all burglaries within 24 hours.

Insurance Council head Chris Ryan said that while insurers were initially cautious about shrinking burglary rates, compelling evidence was now emerging that there was a definite downward trend. "Whatever the police are doing seems to be having quite an effect."

Personal loss claims were dropping "not dramatically, but significantly" across the board. However, insurance companies would have to make sure the pattern was consistent before considering dropping premiums.

Detective Sergeant Ledger said burglaries in his patch fell from 4433 in the year to June 30 last year to 3955 this year, a drop of more than 10 per cent.

He was frustrated at sentences handed to repeat offenders, however.

"We are doing more than our fair share - we need some assistance from the Judiciary to keep these recidivist offenders off the street."

Examples of his frustration included:

A 41-year-old man with 35 burglary convictions was sentenced to four months' periodic detention after being caught for a $20,000 break-in in January.

A 27-year-old awaiting sentence on 70 charges of burglary, receiving and fraud charges was remanded to a drug rehabilitation centre from which he had previously escaped.

He fled from the centre again and is yet to be recaptured.

"Some of these guys are responsible for 5 per cent of the crime in our area."