Break-ins get priority

Police will attend all house breakins, in an effort to curb slowly rising burglary numbers.

Police Minister Judith Collins said the policy, which came into effect yesterday, raised ‘‘dwelling burglary’’ from a ‘‘volume crime’’ to a ‘‘priority offence’’.

‘‘This shows police are serious about tackling burglary and also sends a clear message to offenders.’’

There would be some situations where police could not make it to the crime – but the expectation was that they would.

‘‘Given the nature of policing, there will be occasions where they cannot attend a dwelling burglary for a range of reasons, including adhering to the wishes of the victim. However, the commissioner of police has made his expectations clear,’’ Collins said.

‘‘Police have assured me that they continue to make burglary a priority with ongoing work in every district to reduce this crime type while also focusing on increasing resolution rates.’’

Residential burglary numbers are below that of recent years but have been rising over the past 12 months.

Police introduced a new measurement system for crimes in 2014. That system, which focuses on victimisations, showed an increase of 12,060 crime victims between the 2014/15 and 2015/16 year, a 3.1 per cent rise.

Almost three-quarters (72 per cent) of that rise was due to home burglaries.