The parking building where seven cars were broken into is owned by the Rotorua Lakes Council and managed by iPark.
Council community and regulatory services manager Kurt Williams said security patrollers noticed broken glass in the Pukuatua parking building last Monday afternoon.
"They subsequently identified seven cars that had been broken into," he said.
"This was reported to police while the Safe City Guardians at council reviewed the parking building's CCTV footage. CCTV footage was provided to police for follow-up. This incident appears to have been a one-off opportunistic event rather than a trend.
"Our security patrollers and CCTV monitoring staff do include the parking building as part of regular daily community safety operations."
Rotorua Fresh owner Digraj Baghela was left frustrated when his store was broken into. Photo / David Beck
Williams said that in an ideal world, everyone should be able to leave their car safely where it is parked.
"Unfortunately, this is not always the case.
"To reduce the chances of theft, people are advised to take valuables with them rather than leave them in cars.
"If someone does experience a vehicle break-in, regardless of the location, this should be reported to the police immediately."
Rotorua police Inspector Ewan Dunsmuir said there were about 20 vehicle break-ins throughout Rotorua reported each week.
"We did have a little spate for a couple of days in the CBD that Sunday and Monday," he said.
"A group of young people was identified for those so we have some lines of inquiries we are following up."
Dunsmuir said the same group of youths was also identified as possibly being involved in some store break-ins.
When asked if Rotorua had an issue with crime in the CBD, he said the "real problem" was not necessarily those committing the crimes but the opportunity being created.
"Very many of the car crimes, the thefts, that do get reported, it's insecure vehicles," Dunsmuir said.
"Moreover, it's insecure vehicles with valuables on display ... that's opportunistic stuff and it's preventable.
"So the advice is to take valuables out of cars and keep stuff out of sight. It's relatively simple. It's incredible to look at the number of cars that are still left insecure overnight."
He said Rotorua police worked 24/7 and the CBD, Victoria, and Glenholme were all areas in which the police and Safe City Guardians had a 24-hour focus.
"We work with city guardians to have that presence on foot throughout the day. We do mobile patrols on the late shift, from 2pm onwards, and the night shift.
"We do give the CBD quite a lot of attention just to try and help protect it there. We've got teams here who are patrolling 24/7, teams who do specific investigations around car crime and burglary.
"We are probably pursuing a relatively small core of people, the same groups of people at any one time but that comes and goes."
The front door and windows of The PC Hutt computer store in Tutanekai St were smashed by a vehicle in a ram raid last year. Photo / NZME
Dunsmuir said thieves were usually looking for money or valuables.
"In the insecure cars broken into, what they're looking for is money, electronics, and bank cards - particularly with payWave, which makes it easier for them and harder for us.
"Invariably, with cards getting stolen there are subsequent frauds because they use the cards for other purchases."
He urged Rotorua residents to report any crime or suspicious behaviour they witnessed.
"One of the things I've found with New Zealanders is it's a real strong community. We just need to make sure the community pulls together to report stuff to police because we can only deal with what we know about.
"I encourage people to phone in, even if it seems like it might be nothing, if it's suspicious then call it in. We will always take the call. Call 111 if something is happening now, or call 105 and be persistent, someone will be there to help you."
Dunsmuir was also eager to point out the issues Rotorua police were dealing with were not unique to Rotorua.
"Police all over New Zealand are dealing with the same things," he said.
