The calendar may change but the message from Hamilton Police remains the same, if something appears too cheap it probably is and by buying it you are contributing to the profits of organised criminal specialists.
Reflecting on a 31 per cent reduction in residential burglaries over the summer holiday period Hamilton City Area Commander, Inspector Rob Lindsay, warned residents about complacency.
"Over the period 20 December to 10 January 2009/10 the City suffered 243 residential burglaries while this summer the figure dropped to 168 which is a very pleasing reduction unless of course you are one of the home owners who's dwelling was broken into.
"The number of arrests has also risen, by 36 per cent, with 14 people arrested over last summer and 19 this year."
Mr Lindsay attributed the reduction in the number of burglaries and the increased number of arrests to some good proactive policing by his staff but said arresting burglars was only part of the solution and the public could play a major part in helping to reduce victimisation.
"Offenders are stealing property to fund their own activities, be that to buy drugs or to fuel their cars, they derive their income from the proceeds from your stolen goods.
"To deter this you can record your valuables on the SNAP website and you can also help by denying thieves a ready market, by not buying cheap electronics, jewellery or other attractive items.'
Mr Lindsay said an example of this was a 49-year-old Hamilton man arrested in relation to receiving property from a number of recent burglaries.
"Our officers visited his home two weeks ago and recovered 10 laptop computers taken from burglaries as recent as a month ago right back to items stolen in 2008.
"Returning with new warrants last week officers recovered about five more laptops, cell phones and i-pods he told us he used to trade for drugs. He can only pay for these drugs by selling them to people willing to turn a blind eye to where they've come from."
Mr Lindsay said these people were the ones creating the market that criminal specialists derived their income from.
"When you mention organised crime people automatically conjure up thoughts of big drug cartels or the Sopranos, they don't think that the cheap T.V. they've just bought at the back of the local pub has come from a thief linked to a drug dealer who is linked to a gang manufacturing the product.
"By not providing offenders a ready market you are contributing to the fight against crime at a grassroots level, denying them their source of income so if something is priced at a cost that seems too good to be true- it probably is, don't buy it and ring Police," he said.
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