Operation Lollipop – a sign of the times

A chance conversation with a fellow rugby player has seen Hastings Detective Sergeant Darren Pritchard lead two unique operations, recovering $70,000 worth of stolen property.

After a game, a roading contractor team mate was lamenting the theft of road signs and road cones around Hastings, resulting in $60,000 annual replacement costs for his firm.

With road cones costing around $40 each and simple directional arrow signs up to $300 each, these costs are, in turn, passed on to the tax payer. There’s also associated safety issues for road users and pedestrians when cones and signs are stolen.

So Darren decided to do something about the problem, consulting first with local roading firms.

In 2004, he ran Operation Lollipop, a “no questions asked” week-long amnesty for the return of stolen road signs. Publicised via local media, the operation resulted in the return of $30,000 of goods.

Between 3 - 16 December last year, Darren ran the operation again for two weeks as part of the project component of his New Zealand Institute of Management Frontline Management Diploma.

This time he widened the amnesty into Napier and Hastings, resulting in the return of $40,000 of stolen signage –including speed camera, railway crossing and liquor ban signs.

“We had a grandmother pulling up in front of the Police station and getting out of the car with a stop sign under her arm, and hauling out her nine-year-old grandson to hand it over,” says Darren.

“It was a great success, and cost nothing to run. The offenders come to us, we collect it and a local roading contractor returns the property to the complainants.

“There are some pretty happy contractors around getting that gear back.”

Darren says it’s a concept other Police areas may want to take on, particularly student cities where signs are regularly taken as ‘trophies’.

Based on the success of Operation Lollipop, Darren hopes to run the amnesty every couple of years.