A combination of Police messaging, behind the scenes initiatives and proactive work by businesses is being credited for an overall drop in dishonesty offending in Hamilton over the school holidays.
City Prevention Manager, Acting Inspector Kent Holdsworth, said usually Police were having to up the ante in terms of crime prevention messaging over holiday periods as school age youths with too much time on their hands created issues for home and business owners alike.
"That was certainly the case in May when Police warned of a spate of burglaries carried out by school aged offenders but we're pleased to report a lot of people have heeded our warnings and this time we're reporting good news instead of bad.
"Following the May issues Police invested a lot of time speaking to home and business owners about proactive measures they could take to protect their homes and stores, an example of this was the 80 per cent drop in reported burglaries around the university following a multi-phased Police operation."
Mr Holdsworth said business owners had also shown a heightened awareness around store security resulting in reduced levels of shoplifting through better layout and design of shop interiors.
"Our staff have been out and about visiting businesses talking to them about everything from ideal store layout, best practice on securing takings, truancy initiatives and things like the requirements of the new Psychoactive Substances Act.
"Another real positive has been the initiatives taken by schools to improve their security and secure expensive electronic items that are often attractive to burglars."
Mr Holdsworth said boards of trustees had been doing a fantastic job in addressing issues of safety and security, not just over the holidays but for every day business as usual.
"The initiative between Police and Selecta DNA where all Waikato Schools were supplied with synthetic DNA packs to mark their valuables to deter theft and receiving of stolen goods is also making a difference in preventing crime.
"At the same time our staff have been working with the young people themselves introducing initiatives in schools and with service providers to address development with not just at risk youths but mentoring programmes with identified potential leaders as well as developing mentors."
Programmes in place include the Combined Adolescent Challenge Training Unit and Support (Cactus) course held in conjunction with Fairfield College, the Kirikiriroa marae based E Oho Rangatahi i programme currently underway and the Big Brother Big Sister initiative.
"What you are seeing is Police actively engaging with youth, teachers, school staff, service providers and local community groups to identify sustainable initiatives to prevent crime and support youth development.
"The key thing is the initiatives need to be sustainable to work, and while these are underway parents and caregivers can play their part in ensuring their children are supervised, not just in the holidays but during the school term."
Mr Holdsworth said businesses can ask any Police station for advice on how to best protect their store from shop lifters and after- hours intrusion.
"We're talking about layout and design, not just where stuff is on the shelves but visibility, locks, alarms, bollards, security options etc, your local Police will be only too happy to help.
"The public can play their part as well, dishonesty offending includes everything from home burglary to shoplifting, theft ex car and receiving."
Mr Holdsworth said initiatives earlier in the year saw Police officers patrolling residential areas in unmarked cars where homes and garages were often seen with doors and windows left open.
"Do the basics, close them, lock them and don't invite opportunist burglars to target your home."
Another way the public can help Police is to ensure they report a crime has happened.
"An example of this is thefts from cars. With free replacement glass on a lot of insurance policies and a lot of people finding the replacement cost of small electronic items is less than their excess, a lot of people don't bother to report their car has been broken into.
"That makes it difficult for Police to identify hot areas. A recent example of this is thefts from cars at Waikato Hospital. Over recent months Police have noticed a marked reduction in the number of reported break-ins but thanks to good communications with the hospital we were aware this was not the case and were able to identify there was an issue and arrest three teenagers."
Mr Holdsworth said Police need to know about crime when it occurs so they can not only investigate that offence but identify issues and take steps to prevent further victimisation.
"Its all about the public helping us to ensure we have the right people in the right place at the right time, the bottom line is if you see something- do something and that's phone Police."
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