Wanganui crime rates down again - ninth year in a row

WANGANUI crime rates have fallen for the ninth consecutive year, latest figures show.
Total reported Wanganui crime has fallen 4.5 percent and is third in the country for population-adjusted crime reduction.
Acting Area Commander Duncan MacLeod said the figures represented hard work by Wanganui police and partner agencies.
"This crime reduction result is the ninth consecutive year we have reduced reported crime," Mr MacLeod said.
Overall resolution rates for total crime remains below the 50 percent mark and was slightly down for the year, at 46.7 percent. Mr MacLeod said it was still a pleasing result.
A breakdown of the figures shows reductions in most areas.
Public place violence has dropped to the lowest recorded mark since 1994 with 372 offences reported with a resolution rate of 85 percent.
Reported family violence offences were up, reflecting better policing recording and reporting systems, Mr MacLeod said.
"The work Wanganui police do with partner agencies to reduce reported family violence and the effects it has on victims and children is very positive.
"I've been impressed with the collaboration between agencies in Wanganui to reduce the impact and effect of family violence on all concerned," he said.
The resolution rate was the highest it had been in recent years.
Reported burglaries, including dwellings, were down and matched the previous best year of 2003.
The down side to the crime statistics for the 2005 year was an increase in car thefts and thefts from cars.
Thefts of cars is up from 172 to 197 and thefts from cars up 13 to 460. Resolutions stood at 20.8 percent and 11.3 percent respectively, a slight decrease, but not as low as previous years.
This type of offending could be immediately lowered if people didn't leave valuables in their cars in full view of opportunist thieves.
"If people only heeded that warning we could cut those thefts by half."
Reported wilful damage was the lowest since 1994 with 579 offences.
Mr MacLeod was pleased with the continuing trend of reducing Wanganui crime.
"I'm pleased to see this figure continue to reduce. We will not rest on our laurels, there's still work to be done."
Nationally, there has been a 0.3 percent increase in the total number of offences recorded but that number was lower than expected.
Police Minister Annette King said a number of factors like population increase, the growing market for methamphetamine, and more people in the 15-24 age bracket had made an increase likely.
"But this hasn't happened which is excellent news. What we are clearly seeing at the moment is a static period after the amount of recorded crime fell steadily in recent years," Mrs King said.
She was concerned at the increase in family violence. "It is encouraging that more people are contacting police and we can now see just how bad the problem is."
The Government remained committed to recruiting 1000 more frontline staff and 250 non-sworn staff over the next three years.
"This will help police target crimes such as burglary and car offences?and also respond more quickly to emergencies.
"But the bottom line is no matter how many resources we put in, we must give them [police] all the support we can at a government, local government, community and individual level," she said.
Nationally, there was a 6.9 percent increase in violent offences and 197 more sexual assaults.
National law and order spokesman Simon Power said the figures showed Labour's claims of handling crime were a joke but Acting police Commissioner Steve Long said the figures actually equated to a 0.6 percent reduction per head of population.