Residents feel safe, but won't walk street

It seems Rotorua residents feel safe in their city - but they wouldn't walk the streets alone at night.

According to residents spoken to by the Daily Post, Rotorua was overall a city they felt safe in and no one avoided any areas because of safety concerns.

However, residents did say more street security in the central business district after hours and more street lighting would make the city feel even safer.

This comes as the Rotorua District Council's annual Perceptions of Safety Survey, which looks at how safe people feel in Rotorua, is now underway.

This is the fourth year the survey has been carried out and is part of the council's objective to help make the city a safe and caring one.

In 2006, results of the telephone survey found people felt less safe in the central city than other places but that changed in 2007. More people felt safe in central city during the day and night last year compared to 2006, which was partly due to the presence of other people and the police, lighting and security cameras.

This year it seems Rotorua residents are still feeling good about the city.

Rotorua's Una Chandler said there was no area she didn't feel safe and that hasn't changed in the three-and-a-half years she has lived in the city.

"There's no areas that I wouldn't stay away from but I don't go out at night," Mrs Chandler said.

"I have never felt threatened or frightened," she said.

Rotorua resident Ephraim Gleye also had no safety concerns about any part of the city but thought more street lighting may help those who did.

Sally Fleming has only lived in Rotorua for three months and feels safe in the city. She especially likes the wardens who patrol the central city because they added a sense of security.

However, she did have safety concerns about the city at night after recently spending a Friday night on the town and noticing there was the potential for a fight to break out. Overall though, Ms Fleming said she thought "Rotorua is a great place".

Shirley Mitchell, who has lived in Rotorua for 35 years, agreed. She said police did a great job in patrolling the city and she felt as safe in Rotorua as anywhere else.

The survey, which is carried out over a month, allows randomly selected residents to have their say on their personal safety, safety in neighbourhoods and safety in public places.

Rotorua District Council's community safety projects officer Juanita Seymour said perceptions of safety have been improving since the first survey in 2005.

Results of the survey, carried out by APR Consultants, will be available at the end of June.