Fewer cops on the beat in city

While police are walking the beat less in Palmerston North, latest crime figures show offending is on the rise.

Figures released under the Official Information Act showed the number of police patrolling the streets on foot dropped from 5414 in the year to June 2015, to 3877 in the following 12 months - a 28.4 per cent decrease.

Manawatu area crime prevention manager Inspector Dave White said foot patrols gave police visibility in the community and enabled police to understand community problems and concerns.

‘‘They can lead to reductions for certain types of crime but are not effective on their own for all crime types.’’

White said crime prevention went far beyond the simple count of foot patrols.

‘‘We are constantly evolving the way that we operate to be efficient and effective.

‘‘The number of foot patrols will vary year-to-year, as will all of the myriad of crime prevention activities we deploy.’’

White said long-term crime prevention required smart work behind the scenes and working with other community partners such as council bodies and stakeholders.

‘‘We follow an intelligence-led model of deployment of staff, whereby staff are sent to patrol locations based on evidence, so they are in the right place at the right time to prevent crime.

‘‘We believe this current way of deploying staff will lead to greater efficiency and effectiveness. We measure the effectiveness of our work by reductions in victimisation and increases of public feelings of safety.’’

Assaults increased by just over 40 per cent, one category among many on the rise in Palmerston North. The number of public-place assaults rose by 3.9 per cent and robberies were up 54.3 per cent.

White said police had partnerships with other agencies that supplemented the police presence, such as Safe City Hosts, Safe City Angel, Op Combi, Maori Wardens, Community Patrols, and Neighbourhood Support.

‘‘As our deployment tactics change based on our intelligenceled approach to having staff in the right place, right time, so will our method of deployment. Over time we will see both increases and decreases in the many measures that are used to record the deployment of staff.’’

He said there had been no reduction in police officers in the region and it would be ‘‘very simplistic’’ to draw a direct comparison between the decrease of foot patrols and the increase of crime. ‘‘The reasons of crimeincrease and decreases are manyfaceted.’’

Labour leader Andrew Little said police were stretched too thin and national figures showed some crime was out of control.

‘‘Burglaries are up 32 per cent since August 2014. That’s an extra 50 burglaries each day. Assaults are up 8 per cent and thefts up 3 per cent, while robberies are up a staggering 66 per cent. Despite promises of a ‘War on P’, that drug is now more readily available and cheaper.’’

He said Labour would fund an extra 1000 police in its first term to tackle the rising rate of crime and it would ‘‘restore’’ community policing.