"What would have previously been recorded as a lower level theft is now often recorded as a burglary.
"The technical definition of burglary is the unlawful entering of any building or enclosed yard with the intent of committing a crime.
"So if a person walks down a drive and takes someone's sneakers off a balcony it is now coded as burglary whereas it used to be coded as theft."
However, reported thefts in Rotorua have also risen from 3186 between July 2014 and May 2015 to 3756 in the same time period in 2015/16.
Mr Nightingale said police had noticed a "spike" in burglaries around Glenholme.
Earlier this year the Rotorua Daily Post reported the four most burgled Rotorua suburbs in 2015 were Mangakakahi with 212, Western Heights with 208, Kuirau Park area with 161 and Owhata West with 156.
"I know that our staff are pushing and punching well above their weight. They are motivated and passionate about reducing crime," Mr Nightingale said.
"I know that if we do as much as we can do, then there's only some things that we can have control over, we can have control over how we respond and control of how well we do our day to day jobs.
"Burglary is high priority for the police, for me as area prevention manager it's the first cab off the rank.
"It's important to me that we are effective in respect to preventing burglary, detecting burglary and solving burglary.
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"We want the public to be safe and feel safe."
Rotorua Neighbourhood Support co-ordinator Bruce Quedley said the police have been trying to get a national standard on the way they record burglaries and because of that Neighbourhood Support hadn't had as much information available to them as they had in the past.
"I haven't noticed any significant changes myself, but I don't have all the information available to me.
"It's hard to compare the new stats to the old because of the change in recording, it's not comparing apples with apples.
"The only increase we have seen is in Glenholme, that suburb seems to be getting hit more often," Mr Quedley said.
Andria Studman had someone try and break into her Glenholme house a few weeks ago.
"I hadn't put my catch down on my bedroom window, they had jimmied the window open with a piece of wood, but the alarm picked them up and scared them off.
"It could have been absolutely horrendous, I'd only replaced the batteries in the alarm the day before. I totally recommend getting an alarm to anyone. It saved my place being burgled.
"It's like a violation, it's a horrible feeling. It's an awful feeling that somebody could have been into my house."
She said she told all the neighbours so they could keep an eye out.
"The police were really good to me, even though they haven't found the person yet, they provided victim support."
A police spokesman said the new statistics addressed recommendations made by Statistics NZ in 2009.
"They also align to the government's stated intent that government departments are open and transparent, as well as bringing police into line with the way other countries including the UK and Australia report their official statistics."
He said police wanted to take advantage of better technology and systems which now enabled them to get better data. This data was now released on a monthly basis, rather than a six-monthly basis.
"While the crime statistics cannot be compared one-for-one with the previous method of counting statistics, we are able to view crime trends over time.
"However, police are excited about the detailed information this new dataset will provide over time," he said.
Burglaries in Rotorua for the last three months:
March - 210
April - 243
May - 159
Thefts in Rotorua for the last three months:
March - 384
April - 336
May - 267
Home security checklists:
Before you go out:
• All doors locked
• Garage locked
• All windows shut securely
• Tools and ladders put away securely
• Spare keys with neighbour (not 'hidden')
• Doors clear (no notes on them).
Before you go away:
• Tell your neighbour when and where you're going
• Cancel mail, paper etc
• Give your neighbour a contact phone number
• Put a lamp on a timer
• Curtains open, blinds up
• Turn telephone ringer sound down
• Lock all doors, close all windows.
Ask your neighbour to:
• Clear your letterbox
• Close your curtains at night
• Use your clothesline occasionally
• Watch your home
• Use your driveway occasionally
• Report any suspicious behaviour.
- New Zealand Police