City's crime rate drops

ROTORUA is a less violent city with less crime.

Crime statistics show a 1.6 per cent drop in offences from 10,529 to 10,359 - 170 less - in Rotorua for the year ended June 30.

The statistics include a 10 per cent drop in violent crime from 1171 offences to 1048. The overall drop means crime in Rotorua has dropped by about 20 per cent in two years.

Rotorua police are also solving more crime, up to 44.5 per cent compared with 38.6 per cent the previous year. The national average is 44.2 per cent.

Taupo's crime rate dropped by 5.8 per cent, from 7239 to 6822 crimes.

However, the Eastern Bay of Plenty recorded an 18 per cent jump with 4991 offences - up 761 from 4230 in 2004/05.

Eastern Bay of Plenty area commander Inspector Pat Tasker said he was disappointed with the rise, which was linked to an increase in dishonesty offences, vandalism and family violence.

A five-year long term view showed an overall crime drop of 13.5 per cent.

While crime was up, the Eastern Bay of Plenty has one of the highest crime solving rates in the country, at 55.4 per cent.

Offending in the Bay of Plenty district - which includes Rotorua, Taupo, Tokoroa and the Eastern and Western Bay of Plenty - was up just 1.9 per cent.

Nationally, the crime rate soared by almost 7 per cent.

The Bay of Plenty region recorded its best road toll in more than 25 years with the latest figures showing fatal crashes down 28 per cent from 57 to 41.

Rotorua area commander Inspector Bruce Horne said Rotorua's figures were pleasing because it had been a challenging year.

Staff had to deal with six murders in the Rotorua area, help police in neighbouring areas with serious crime inquiries and police several large events such as the Lions tour.



Mr Horne said a 34 per cent increase in people arrested for receiving stolen goods, up from 73 arrests to 98 arrests, reflected the effort the police had put in to investigating burglary networks.

Those people would often "slip through the net", he said.

There was also a 91 per cent increase in people caught for serious drug offending with 23 arrests compared with 12 the previous year.

Family violence figures remained steady.

Rotorua police had the highest conviction rate in New Zealand for men arrested for assaulting women and those arrested for breaching protection orders.

Taupo Area Commander Inspector Kevin Taylor said there had been 10 homicide investigations in the past year.

He said family violence was still a major issue for the area with Taupo recording an increase of 43.3 per cent but Mangakino's family violence rate had almost halved. While violence was generally down Mr Taylor described the severity of violence as "alarming" with a 51.7 per cent increase, or 31 more people becoming the victims of grievous assault.
BY THE NUMBERS TOTAL CRIME Rotorua down 1.6 per cent Taupo down 5.8 per cent Eastern Bay up 18 per cent VIOLENCE (includes assaults, kidnapping, murder and robbery) Rotorua down 10.5 per cent Taupo down 1.8 per cent Eastern Bay up 5.8 per cent DRUGS AND ANTISOCIAL (includes drug offences, family offences and disorder) Rotorua down 14.5 per cent Taupo down 21 per cent Eastern Bay up 7.8 per cent DISHONESTY (includes burglary, theft and fraud) Rotorua up 3.5 per cent Taupo down 3 per cent Eastern Bay up 22.3 per cent