Simon Power National Party Law & Order Spokesman

12 April 2006

Police taking longer to investigate burglaries

The percentage of burglaries attended by police within 24 hours is getting worse, says National's Law & Order spokesman, Simon Power.

He is commenting on latest figures from Police Minister Annette King.

"The figures show that last year police attended only 83% of burglaries within 24 hours, compared with 85% in 2003/04 and 86% in 2002/03.

"Of the 12 police districts, eight were either worse or showed no improvement at all, and only four showed any improvement.

"In Auckland City the percentage attended within 24 hours has dropped from 80% to 73%, and in Canterbury from 83% to 75%.

"That means that in those areas a quarter of all reported burglaries are not attended by police within 24 hours. And that not only means the trail is a bit colder, but the victims have to wait for more than a day before they can clean up so they don't contaminate the scene.

"When you add all this to the fact that the number of reported burglaries increased in 2005 to 58,133 and the resolution rate, of 16.2%, is almost back to where it was in 2000, it is clear there is a problem.

"This trend is further proof that this Government is failing to deliver on its 1999 promise to get on top of the burglary problem.

"They have had six years to get this right but we are now almost back to 2000 levels, despite what they claim. The figures do not lie."

Question: For each year over the last ten years, what has been the average
response rate by police to burglary reports, specified by locality?

Question: For each year over the last ten years, what has been the average response rate by police to burglary reports, specified by locality?

Portfolio: Police Minister: Hon Annette King Date Lodged:29/03/2006

Answer Text: Hon Annette King (Minister of Police) replies:

I am advised that Police report the percentage of burglaries attended within 24 hours as the performance measure for responding to burglary reports. This information has only been collated at a district level for the years ending 30 June 2003/2004 and 2005.

The attached table contains district level burglary response rates for the previous two years, while the member should refer to Police Annual Reports for average national response rates for the years prior to 2004.

Attachment: 2932 chart.doc Date Received: 10/04/2006

Percentage of burglaries attended within 24 hours
DISTRICT 2003/2004 2004/2005
Northland 90% 88%
North Shore/Waitakere 94% 96%
Auckland City 80% 73%
Counties/Manukau 73% 73%
Waikato 87% 84%
Bay of Plenty 85% 85%
Eastern 92% 91%
Central 88% 91%
Wellington 89% 90%
Tasman 98% 98%
Canterbury 83% 75%
Southern 94% 95%
National Rate 85% 83%

Please note that response time data includes delays due to deferred police attendance at the request of complainants.

Examples of this include: police attendance is deferred due to the absence of the property owner, or the property owner may not wish police to attend until a specified future time In the case of the burglary of commercial buildings, police may defer attendance at the request of the owner or may have to wait for the premise to open on the next business day before an owner can be found.

ENDS

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