Not even the Police believe the Police stats!

Frontline police have said they don’t believe their own statistics on the level of crime in New Zealand. Remarkable!

A Senior Constable in Christchurch said he had criminals in his car admit to carrying out 100 car break-ins in a night, but only three complaints arose and hence were recorded..

A man linked to 15 burglaries in Manurewa admitted to carrying out 60 burglaries – most had not been reported.

One officer said anecdotal evidence suggested victims who had not suffered a great trauma did not report the crime because they did not think it was worth the effort. This is why a focus on the violent crime statistics is useful because they are the ones most likely to always be reported.

A frontline Auckland officer said it was discouraging to hear people say there was no point ringing police to report a crime saying “All people see is traffic enforcing and you get a lot of decent people in the public getting tickets for minor infringements.” and “There’s no need for us to be standing out in the road in the middle of the day clocking someone who’s doing five or 10 kilometres over the speed limit. Those resources would be better solving crime.”

Most New Zealanders would agree with the officer. What a pity George Hawkins does not.