Waikato Police believe Fiscal Year crime statistics released today show they were right to reshape the way the District addresses crime late last year.
Acting Waikato Commander, Detective Inspector Russell Le Prou, said early analysis carried out by the district late last year indicated a number of areas of concern that needed to be addressed.
"That is why about November we warned the public that our residential burglary numbers were heading towards the highs of 2007 if we didn't do something about it and it was the same picture in relation to violence.
"To that end we established a number of initiatives such as creating Community Policing Teams, Proactive Policing Units and creating Peak Time Rosters to ensure we would have staff tasked in key areas at peak times."
Total crime across the Waikato rose by 8.5 per cent over the Fiscal Year period which ran from July last year through to the end of June this year.
There were 35,818 offences recorded over the 2009/10 Fiscal Year compared to 33,024 for the previous period.
Of those offences 21,732 were committed in Hamilton City, 7,279 happened in the Eastern Waikato and 6,807 in the Western Area of the District.
The District's rise was driven primarily by Hamilton City which experienced an increase of 11.6 per cent and because of this Mr Le Prou said it was the City which required the most significant change in tactical focus.
"We are creating four Community Policing Groups in the North, South, East and west of the City. Each group will have within its ranks an NCO, Community Constables including Campus Cops, Youth Aid and Education officers and a greater access to Iwi Liaison staff.
"The first Community Policing Team was started in Melville and since its introduction we've seen a drop in burglaries by 63 per cent in that specific area while willful damage and disorder dropped by 54 and 39 per cent respectively."
"These teams will be patrolling our vulnerable communities. We initially responded by creating a temporary additional Proactive Policing Team and enhanced our tactical units. At the same time the Police's presence during peak periods such as Thursday to Saturday nights has been enhanced by the introduction of Peak Time Rosters."
Mr Le Prou said these rosters meant that front line officers will be bolstered by the presence of other staff who traditionally have non-frontline roles. These staff are now rostered to work out on the streets across the city during the busiest periods of calls for service.
While violence rose by 15.5 per cent Mr Le Prou said this was driven mainly by a predicted rise in Domestic Violence whereas a pleasing result was to see the decline in public place violence and serious assaults, particularly in Hamilton City.
"As we've said previously we would expect the levels of reported family violence to rise with such a big emphasis on Family Violence not being OK and the introduction of Police Safety Orders but it is also pleasing to note the rate of increase is slowing with the rise being 20 per cent this year compared to 37 per cent last year and 35 per cent the year before that."
Mr Le Prou said the figures released today showed plenty of room for improvement however they also showed Police were on the right track in analysing crime trends and reacting to developments earlier in the year.
"We've identified areas of concern and taken steps to address those alongside partner agencies, so we're not just processing individual offences but looking at the root causes, dealing with issues of problem families, truancy and substance abuse and tailoring our policing to the periods of where and when our services are most needed."
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