Kaitaia crime curbed by action

The Kaitaia community and local police have come together to curb a ‘‘spike’’ in car break-ins and burglaries in the area.

A community action group has formed to lead communication with police and residents, following an increase in ‘‘dishonesty offences’’ such as burglaries over the last two months.

The group organised a policeled meeting to present possible solutions to the crime rate and then ensure the collaboration continued. Action group spokesperson, Kaitaia resident Serenity Taniwha, had noticed the problem and gathered some friends together.

‘‘We said we need to do something about this, we made the decision for an urgent call for a community hui.’’

Solutions from the meeting, which 50 people attended on June 30, include forming neighbourhood support groups, increased street lighting, and encouraging whanau to be responsible for the whereabouts and actions of their young people. These were then presented to police.

‘‘Police don't know, what they don't know.’’

Rowena Jones

Taniwha says the community was also encouraged to follow the processes of reporting crime, as many people posted information on Facebook instead of reporting it to police.

Senior Constable Rowena Jones of Kaitaia Police, says in the last two months, 20 vehicles were taken from Kaitaia and Ahipara, with over half being recovered.

Jones says eight people have been spoken to by police in relation to the stolen vehicles and other break-ins, with a number charged for these offences as a result.

Since the meetings the police have noted a drop in reported dishonesty offences.

Speaking to the Northern News on July 20, Jones says during the week prior, they had only five dishonesty offences reported. Residents had been posting a lot of information about crime on social media pages and not always reporting the incidents to police, Jones says.

‘‘For example, someone would say they got broken into and post information on Facebook and that’s as far as it would go. Police don’t know, what they don’t know.’’

Jones says police wanted community engagement and to involve the community in ‘‘decision-making that affects them’’.