NZ crime rate rising, police report reveals

Police armed offenders squad callouts have fallen nationwide despite a higher crime rate.

Its annual report revealed the force’s nationwide operations for the year to July, including stopping nearly $1.6 billion worth of crime.

New Zealand’s crime rate rose from 844 per 10,000 population to 865 per 10,000.

Youth crime increased by nearly 7 per cent and violent crime by 3 per cent.

The armed offenders squad was deployed 862 times, down 10 per cent from the previous year.

There were 17 serious injuries in police custody – two less than the previous period.

Escapes from custody remained the same at six.

Police answered 84 per cent of near 870,000 111 calls within 10 seconds, 6 per cent below standard.

Officers conducted about 2.1 million breath tests, 50 per cent more compared with the year before.

Average response time to priority emergencies sharpened by seconds.

In urban areas police arrived in 7.46 minutes, compared with 7.53 minutes; and in rural areas police were one second faster than 2015/16, at 13.6 minutes.

Police attended 953 events for crowd control, nine less than the year before.

Officer foot patrols were also down from 135,515 to 109,633.

Coincidently, police made 732,539 vehicle stops – up 14 per cent on the previous period. But well above the 640,000 standard.

There were 1104 land search and rescue callouts, with a 700-900 standard; water missions rose from 1566 to 1639.

Police revoked 505 firearms licences, 12 fewer than the previous year, and on average it took 36 days to follow up with expired licence holders to ensure proper disposal of firearms. The standard follow-up time was 60 days.

Of the 102,541 prosecution cases by trial, in front of a judge, 8 per cent were dismissed or withdrawn due to police providing insufficient evidence – 2 per cent below its standard.

The number of missing persons reports increased from 19,193 to 20,483.

Police commissioner Mike Bush said in the report that police had a productive year.

‘‘We accomplished record breaking drug busts through several major operations and disrupted organised crime activity with $301 million worth of assets restrained, $168 million worth of assets forfeited, and $1.58 billion worth of crime disruption.

‘‘We have built a healthy, diverse and inclusive culture that puts victims at the heart of everything we do.

‘‘I am confident the lessons learned, and improvements initiated, will continue to endure,’’ he said.