Police should have acted far quicker - burglary victims

The driver's licence and hat left behind at an Onerahi home after the house was broken into, ransacked and a large amount of items stolen. Photo / Supplied

A Whangarei man who tracked alleged thieves to a nearby home and discovered them eating food stolen from their fridge and other looted items is disappointed police failed to respond and go to the house immediately.

Finding the culprits was made easy for the Onerahi home owners after a driver's licence for a 19-year-old Kerikeri man was left in their lounge next to a stereo that was smashed during a burglary on Sunday morning. A trail of blood was also left through the house.

Police have spoken to the alleged thief on the phone but a senior officer said that, on reviewing the file, it would have been better for officers to have attended on Sunday.

Andrea Jenkins told the Northern Advocate her home had been ransacked and a huge amount of items taken including most of her children's clothing and toys.

All the food from the fridge and freezer was also taken in the raid along with the pet food for the turtle.

"We had just used our food grant and gone shopping on Friday so the fridge was full. They took all the stuff for the kids' lunches," Ms Jenkins said.

Ms Jenkins, her partner and her brother had gone to Toll Stadium to watch a public fireworks display and got home at 3am to discover the break-in.

Her children, aged 7 and 3, had stayed with a relative.

The burglary was reported to police at 3.21am on Sunday but as there were no offenders at the property at the time, the report was taken by people working for the Crime Reporting Line, based in Auckland.

Ms Jenkins said her brother, who also lived at the house, found out where the person was who had left his driver's licence behind.

Her brother went to a house in Chester Ave about 9.30pm on Sunday and managed to get back a television, although it was smashed.

"When he got there the guys were sitting around eating the food they had stolen from our fridge," Ms Jenkins said.

Her brother phoned police and told them the house where the suspected thieves were at 10.36am and was again put through to the Crime Reporting Line, not staff on duty at Whangarei police station.

"He got told not to go there again and that police would be there tomorrow [Monday]."

An officer went to Ms Jenkins' home on Monday morning and went to the house identified by her brother to find it was locked and no one home.

A forensic officer also went to her home and took blood swabs and fingerprints.

"The police should have come sooner than that, most of our stuff will be gone now," Ms Jenkins said.

Police are investigating the burglary and confirmed they had spoken with the man who owned the driver's licence found at the scene. He told police he would be going to Kaikohe station yesterday in relation to the burglary.

Relieving Whangarei/Kaipara Area Commander Senior Sergeant Rob Huys said while police would have preferred to have attended on Sunday to uplift the forensic evidence it did not take place because of other jobs being dealt with in order of priority.

Mr Huys said after the crime was reported to CRL the standard advice was given about preserving the scene for a future investigation and the matter would be followed.

The second call regarding the identity of the burglar was also referred to CRL.

"A review of this case reveals that it would have been better for police to have attended on Sunday. Subsequent inquiries have led to some strong leads in locating the offender," Mr Huys said.

Ms Jenkins said the family had been having a "hard time" financially.

"We were wondering how we were going cope through Christmas. This has made it much harder."

They have no insurance.

Angry at the theft, Ms Jenkins took to Facebook on Sunday and posted a photo of the alleged thief's driver's licence with a cap they found on the driveway.

The post was "liked" more than 6000 times and "shared" more than 4000 times before it was removed by Facebook officials.