News Release
Thursday 21 June 2012

2012 Safety Survey shows police & guardian presence making people feel safe

ROTORUA 21.06.12 : The presence of Rotorua Police in the CBD is a factor contributing towards local people feeling safe in the city according to the Rotorua District Council (RDC) commissioned 2011 ‘Perceptions of Safety Survey’ released today.

The 2012 survey conducted by APR Consultants during March and April interviewed more than 400 residents throughout Rotorua district.

During the day-time, the majority (89.2%) of respondents stated they felt ‘very safe’ or ‘safe’ in the CBD. The 2012 results indicate an increase in feelings of safety from 2011 (85.9%) and on par with earlier years.

Factors making respondents feel safe in the CBD during the night-time included the presence of other people (47%), the presence of police (19.2%), and lighting (18.6%). Just over half of the respondents (51.3%) were aware of the City Safe Guardians project, and of those, 70.2% thought the Guardians helped make the central city area a safer place.

RDC community safety officer Amy Duckett says the survey is really useful in terms of gauging how safe residents are feeling in our CBD and in their own neighbourhoods.

“We can use the information to identify the specific reasons why people feel safe or unsafe, and plan our crime prevention activities around those.

“It's encouraging to see that residents' perceptions of safety in the CBD have increased since 2011, and we would hope to see further improvement over the next year with our City Safe Guardians patrolling the streets. It's also great that over half of those surveyed were aware of the City Safe Guardians programme, and most think the Guardians are helping make the city safe.”

Regarding feelings of safety within the CBD during the night-time, the 2012 results were slightly down on the 2011 results (29.4% compared to 31.9%) but were higher than in all previous periods. Reasons for feeling unsafe in the CBD during the night-time included groups of young people, lack of police presence, poor lighting and/or isolation, the presence of ‘undesirable people’, the reputation of the area, proximity to bars/clubs and negative personal experiences.

During the night-time, the respondents who indicated they felt unsafe felt this way at Kuirau Park (30 responses, down 3% from 2011), City Focus (29 responses, up 3.3% from 2011), shops on Pukuatua, Haupapa and Arawa Streets (18 responses, down 3% from 2011), Eat Streat (18 responses, up 2.5% from 2011), and Lakefront (15 responses, down 0.5% from 2011).

Factors making respondents feel safe in the CBD during the night-time included the presence of other people (44.4%), lighting (34.2%), security cameras (7.7%) and the presence of police (6.8%).

Mrs Duckett says this year's results show that fewer people are aware of crime prevention initiatives like the Community Policing Centre, CCTV and the liquor ban.

“We now plan to work with police to raise awareness of those initiatives in the year ahead,” she said.

When asked if Rotorua is generally a safe place to live, the majority (79.5%) of respondents stated ‘definitely’ or ‘mostly’. This was a decrease from the 2011 (85.0%) results and 2010 results (87.4%).

Respondents were asked if they worry about their vehicle being broken into or stolen when parked in Rotorua’s CBD, at any time during the day or night. During the day-time, 13.3% stated that they ‘always worry’ or ‘usually worry’ about their vehicle; more than in 2011but less than all previous years.

During the night-time, 22.9% stated that they ‘always worry’ or ‘usually worry’. This was the lowest level of worry from all previous survey periods.

A total of 11% of respondents identified that they, or someone in their household, had their vehicle, bike or motorcycle stolen over the past 12 months. This was the same as 2011. A further 18.5% identified that they, or someone in their household, had had items stolen from their vehicle, the highest figure since surveys began.

Other significant findings from the survey include:

• At night-time, 82.3% of respondents felt either ‘very safe’ or ‘safe’ in their home. This was a decrease from 2011 (88.0%) and is lower than previous survey rounds, although not significantly lower.

• During the day-time, the majority of respondents (90.8%) felt either ‘very safe’ or ‘safe’ in their local neighbourhood, a slight decrease from 2011 (91.8%) and 2010 (91.1%).

• During the day-time, 94.3% of respondents felt either ‘very safe’ or ‘safe’ in their own home, similar to the results of 2011 (95%).

• During the day-time, the respondents who indicated they felt unsafe felt this way at City Focus (3 responses, down 1% from 2011), Rotorua Central Mall (3 responses, down 0.5% from 2011), and Kuirau Park (2 responses, down 0.2% from 2011).

• During the night-time, almost three-quarters of respondents (73.8%) felt either ‘very safe’ or ‘safe’ in their local neighbourhood. These results are slightly higher than 2011 (72.8%) and similar to 2010 (73.7%) results.

• The number of respondents who have experienced someone gaining entry into their home or garage without permission in the past 12 months since March 2012 decreased to 12.3%. This was lower than the 2011 (15%) and 2010 (13.6%) periods.

• A total of 42 respondents (10.5%) stated that they had witnessed or been a victim of a crime that they had not reported to the Police – a decrease of 3.5% since 2011, following an earlier increase of 2.9% since the 2010 survey.

Rotorua Police Area Commander, Inspector Bruce Horne says it is pleasing to see that the vast majority of the people surveyed feel safe in Rotorua.

“Police believe that everyone has the right to be safe and feel safe, and our strategies are directed toward achieving that outcome. Increased foot patrols and police visibility generally in the CBD has been a focus for local police over recent years.

Inspector Horne says Rotorua Police enjoy a strong, collaborative relationship with RDC.

“In addition to more visible projects such as City Safe Guardians, police are also working behind the scenes with RDC staff on a number of other crime prevention projects, including exploring options to improve the environmental design of public spaces in the CBD.”

He said police are also encouraged by the result that shows that more people are reporting crime, rather than ignoring it.

"It is really important that people call us immediately whenever they see someone acting suspiciously. If you see something that warrants immediate action by the police you should call the police immediately on 111."

The 2012 Rotorua Perceptions of Safety report will be available in full on Rotorua District Council’s website www.rdc.govt.nz on Friday 24 June.

ENDS

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