More than 20 arrested in provincial burglary raids

More than 20 people have been arrested in raids targeting home burglary suspects across Manawatu, Horowhenua, Taranaki and Whanganui.

Police searched 16 properties in the Central District policing area on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, July 26 to 28.

Twenty-three people were arrested and have been charged with offences, including burglary, theft, breach of bail, cultivation of cannabis, possession of cannabis for supply, and possession of a firearm.

Five of those arrested were already wanted on outstanding warrants.

The operation held burglars ‘‘to account’’, and recovered ‘‘a substantial amount’’ of household property, police said in a statement. The haul included furniture and electronics.

‘‘Dwelling burglaries have a harmful impact on communities, they’re invasive, and can make people feel vulnerable,’’ police said. Items that could be identified would be returned to their owners. However, victims were more likely to be able to recover stolen property if they used the SNAP website to record identifying serial numbers, which could be used to make a sure match, the statement said.

‘‘Officers would like to thank local communities for providing vital information which helped lead to the searches.’’

Friday also marked two years of complete data under the new police-recorded crime statistics, which showed just how much burglaries affected communities.

Police Minister Judith Collins said the new dataset provided a much more detailed picture of what was actually happening in communities, and the circumstances around victimisation.

These statistics showed an increase of victimisations of 3.1 per cent, with 12,060 more victimisations in 2015-16 compared with 2014-15.

‘‘From this increase, 72 per cent is attributable to burglaries.

‘‘Police remain committed to improving burglary resolution rates and reducing the number of burglaries.’’

She said from next month police would raise the priority level of house break-ins, moving it from the ‘volume crime’ category to the ‘priority offence’ category.

‘‘Under the Prevention First operating model, police have placed greater emphasis on victims and these statistics mean officers now have the most up-todate data to inform their work,’’ Collins said.