CBD safety
Of the respondents, 83.8 per cent felt safe or very safe in the central city during the day, that figure dropping to just 25.8 per cent at night.
Those figures were worse than in 2013, with those saying they felt unsafe or very unsafe during the day also worsening from 4.5 to 6.3 per cent.
The City Focus and the Pukuatua St bus stop where two of the specific areas highlighted.
"Respondents felt unsafe at City Focus due to the groups of youth that congregate and loiter there and would like to see them moved away from the area," the report said.
It also said residents felt unsafe at the bus stop due to "aggressive groups of youth and over-crowding".
In both areas, survey respondents mentioned people begging for money, the first time this had been mentioned in the annual survey.
The manager of a store near the bus stop, who did not want to be named, told the Rotorua Daily Post there were fights at the bus stop about every three weeks - "the girls are the worst". Begging was also prevalent, she said.
"We have customers coming in telling me the young ones were bludging money, they're hitting the elderly people."
She said she was moving out of Rotorua at the end of the month, after living here all her life.
She said she would like to see more of a police presence in the area and a quicker response from guardians.
Inspector Ed Van Den Broek of Rotorua police said they operated under a "prevention first" strategy that makes it a priority to prevent crime first.
He said the perceptions of safety survey was an excellent tool that provided police with useful data about issues of concern.
"The last three years has seen significant reductions in crime in Rotorua and the survey reflects the public's perception of those results. Rotorua police have been more visible in both mobile and foot patrols in our high risk locations, including the CBD."He said mobility devices, including iPhones and iPads, have freed up police to spend more time in the community, reducing the need to return to police stations to do paperwork.
Changes planned
Karen Hunt, of the council's Inner City Revitalisation Strategy, said a request had been made to the Bay of Plenty Regional Council to change city bus routes, removing the Pukuatua St stop and instead giving more places to get on and off.
Mrs Hunt said some of the survey responses on the City Focus area were perhaps a "hangover" from nearby shops selling synthetic cannabis, which was no longer a problem.
As reported , the council had removed bollards and some seating from the City Focus to trial a north-south traffic flow.
The move would "change the dynamic of that space", she said.
Watchdog Security managing director Brett Wilson, who works with the Inner City Focus Group, said the ban on the sale of synthetic cannabis had made a "massive difference" to the CBD.
He said Rotorua had improved and was a lot better than 12 months ago. There was a negative perception of the city that was unjustified, he said.
"I'm not saying it's perfect but we have no more issues than anyone else, even the ones people perceive are better, like Tauranga."
Burglary rates had dropped from 50 or 60 a week 10 years ago to it being "very rare to get more than 20", he said.
Mr Wilson said a workshop had been held with inner city businesses about a month ago, helping them become more pro-active in crime prevention. "It's not only a police and council issue, it's also the community's responsibility to make it safer," he said. Mr Wilson said the wider issues around youth engagement were difficult, and there was "no easy solution".
However he wanted locals to stop being their "own worst enemies" by bagging their city.
"I think a lot of it is perception and we've got to change it."
Get to know your neighbours
While most people felt safe within their own neighbourhoods, 11 per cent of the survey respondents still felt unsafe or very unsafe in their neighbourhood at night.
Neighbourhood Support Rotorua co-ordinator Bruce Quedley said for people to feel safer in their homes, they should get to know their neighbours. Having a Neighbourhood Support group meant people knew there was someone looking out for them, he said.
"In many cases people live in isolation," he said.
Mr Quedley said 36 per cent of houses in Rotorua were covered by Neighbourhood Support groups and based on his records, there was about 10 per cent less crime in those areas than others.
Of course, getting to know your neighbours doesn't have to be through Neighbourhood Support - new website www.neighbourly.co.nz is proving popular in Rotorua while many still prefer the old-fashioned approach of chatting over the fence.
Neighbourhood Support in CBD
Despite traditionally working in residential areas, Neighbourhood Support is in the early stages of establishing "Business Support" in the Rotorua CBD.
"It's neighbourhood support for business, which really is establishing communication networks between neighbouring businesses and similar types of businesses, eg, clothing retail shops," Mr Quedley said. "It's a new tack for us."
That would mean for example, they could warn each other about shoplifters or people causing trouble, he said.
But it would also benefit the general public by deterring undesirable behaviour on the streets, he said.
"If those of the criminal element know they're now being watched by people in shops and neighbouring shops ... we hope it will reduce crime."
He said pamphlets had been sent out and the organisation was in the process of getting funding for a proper launch.
However Mr Quedley agreed perception was worse than reality.
"The amount of crime has greatly reduced over the last five years," he said
"It seems some people think that what was in the past is still there."
