‘Massive spike’ in burglaries Methamphetamine use fuels rise in break-ins
The Nelson region has experienced the largest spike in burglaries in the country, increasing by 52 per cent in a year.
The 1587 burglaries – an average of four a day – contributed to an 18 per cent increase in total reported crime in 2016 compared to the previous year.
Nationally, reported crime increased by 4 per cent last year and burglaries by 16 per cent.
Nelson Bays police area commander Inspector Mat Arnold-Kelly said the ‘‘massive spike’’ in burglaries was fuelled by methamphetamine and youths who offended ‘‘for the thrill of it’’.
‘‘That’s created quite a big bubble. That spike was a lot bigger than what we’ve previously experienced and coincided with the real arrival of methamphetamine in Nelson.
‘‘It costs a lot of money to feed habits so people have to source income for that habit any way they can and they tend to get quite desperate. Burglary is a common way of funding a meth habit.’’
The region has also experienced a 65 per cent increase in robberies; 10 per cent increase in assaults; and 7 per cent increase in thefts.
Reported sexual assaults dropped by 5 per cent last year, according to the new figures.
However, Arnold-Kelly said while the figures might sound ‘‘mind-blowing’’, it was not out of character for the region to experience waves of crime.
‘‘It’s the nature of a provincial town. We have spikes like that whenever we have groups that become very active and then we catch them and we have a period of calm.
‘‘What we’re experiencing at the moment is another period of calm. It’s very cyclic.’’
He said police had achieved the government’s target of attending every burglary and have been working with offenders and victims on crime prevention.
‘‘It’s kind of like if you’ve got an ailment you treat the symptoms, but you also need to get to the root cause. So we’ve had a big focus on methamphetamine and organised crime.’’
Arnold-Kelly said the Nelson region has been hit hard by the rise of methamphetamine and that was reflected in crime figures.
‘‘It’s probably hit us harder as it’s not been the norm here. Now we’ve gone from a space of having not a lot of methamphetamine in the community to having huge [amounts].’’
When asked about gangs becoming more established in the region, ArnoldKelly said there were links between organised crime and methamphetamine. ‘‘It’s certainly a focus area for us.’’ Despite the overall increase in reported crime, Arnold-Kelly said the numbers were lower than most other areas of the country.
‘‘We’re still one of the safest communities in New Zealand.’’
‘These people have nothing to lose’
Behind the drastic increase in burglaries are real people – victims, like Richmond couple Matt Peters and Bonnie Hogarth.
They were at the Guns N’ Roses concert in Wellington last Thursday night while burglars were ransacking their home.
Peters’ 17-year-old son returned home from work shortly after 11.40pm to find the house had been broken into and raided.
They took a Playstation 4, stereo and other electronics.
A bundle of items, including a laptop and TV, were left in a pile in the lounge, which makes them think the burglars were disturbed.
The burglars also took sentimental things, including external hard drives containing the only copies of photos of Peters’ children.
They also took a toolbox that belonged to his late father.
‘‘When he died that was the first thing I wanted,’’ Peters said. ‘‘It wasn’t because of what was in the toolbox it was because it was by dad’s. It’s a sentimental thing.’’
They also emptied Hogarth’s jewellery box.
The burglars loaded their loot into Peters’ Holden Commodore, which was locked in a garage, and disappeared.
The car was found abandoned in Appleby.
Hogarth said the house and garage were locked and they had also secured the car keys. ‘‘We don’t feel violated, we just feel angry.’’
She said unless people wanted to spend a lot of money on security and insurance, there was nothing homeowners could do to protect themselves from burglars.
‘‘There’s nothing you can do, absolutely nothing,’’ she said. ‘‘These people have nothing to lose.’’
Peters said the burglars were ‘‘pathetic, low-life scum’’ who were ‘‘too lazy to get a job’’.
He said it was possible that the offenders left fingerprints or DNA in the car. Police attended the burglary and dusted for fingerprints, but the couple said they have been disappointed by the lack of communication. The couple have had to change the locks at the house and would also install a security video system. Rescuers in Golden Bay can breathe a giant sigh of relief today following the first night of no whale strandings.
The three separate pods that beached over three nights since last Friday have left carnage along Farewell Spit and a huge clean up for Department of Conservation workers.
But the good news this morning was that the large pod of whales in the area yesterday were last seen about six kilometres offshore swimming towards Separation Point at the northern end of Abel Tasman National Park. It is hoped they have made their way out to open sea.
DOC rangers this morning searched coastline on the western side of Golden Bay to as far along the inner side of Farewell Spit as it was possible to go and no stranded live whales were seen.
The weekend strandings have left the beach covered in more than 250 rotting whale carcasses forcing DOC to close it off, as they could ‘‘explode’’ on volunteers.
Department of Conservation ranger Mike Ogle said when the dead whales got too warm they were ‘‘just nasty’’.
‘‘These things explode from the stomach and if you’re standing right there it’s not very nice getting a ‘gut bomb’ on your face,’’ he said. ‘‘I’ve been too close to that a few times myself and it’s really unpleasant; you just get sick.’’ Today, they would start making arrangements about how best to dispose of the rotting carcasses, Ogle said.
‘‘We’ve never had to deal with 250 carcasses before, and most of them weigh over a tonne,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s an awful lot of whales to get rid of.’’ Last Thursday night’s stranding of the pod of 416 whales was thought to be the third largest stranding of whales recorded in the country’s history.
About 300 – close to 75 per cent – had died by the time Department of Conservation staff arrived on Friday morning.
Staff from DOC, Project Jonah and volunteers attempted to re-float the survivors at high tide, about 10.30am on Friday, but were only partially successful.
An estimated 50 whales returned to the sea. However, the remaining 80 to 90 survivors re-stranded in shallow water.
The mission for desperate volunteers then changed to keeping them alive as the tide receded and the whales were exposed in puddles, or on the sand.
About 500 volunteers used sheets to cover the whales’ thick skin and buckets to continuously pour water over them to keep them cool.
At high tide on Saturday, volunteers scrambled into the water to push 200 fresh whales from a new super pod swimming into shore by forming a human chain in the waves.
Their efforts were successful, but volunteers were forced to leave 50 surviving alone overnight on Saturday. DOC then euthanised 20 of the surviving whales with a rifle, whales which were too ill to be rescued or stay alive. It had been hoped the survivors would re-float naturally and swim back to sea at high tide that night.
Many surviving whales refloated naturally on Saturday night, but 18 were found yesterday morning in Puponga, less than a kilometre from where the 416 stranded themselves on Friday.
All but two were successfully refloated at high tide yesterday where they rejoined the larger pod of 200 swimming in the bay.
Hundreds of volunteers and DOC staff spent the day hanging around at Triangle Flat at the base of Farewell spit, where Ogle said they spent spent the day watching the horizon ‘‘full of whales’’.
‘‘We were really concerned they might come and investigate the stranded ones, but they didn’t which is great news.’’
Project Jonah general manager Daren Grover said the team was on hold at the site. ‘‘We will be checking the beach in the next few days and listening out for reports. If these whales do re-strand then we will be starting again.’’ Grover said the wider community response was amazing.
Volunteer Imogen Harris, 11, said yesterday they had just been waiting anxiously all day to see if any of the whales re-stranded.
WHY DO WHALES STRAND?
There were many theories among the people at Farewell Spit for why the whales stranded.
Murray said it was possible there were some sick animals that went in to strand and the rest of the pod followed. Project Jonah coordinator Mark Rigby said ‘‘all we know is it keeps happening. There will be people who will argue that it’s natural. We’re here for the welfare of the animals.’’