Auckland City Police have today launched ‘Operation Resolve’ aimed at targeting burglars and improving resolution rates for burglary victims.
Twenty staff have been assigned to work on the Operation and will be based out of the Mt Wellington Police Centre.
The team will be led by Detective Senior Sergeant Iain Chapman who said no stone would be left unturned in their efforts to bring burglars to justice and get better results for victims.
“The Auckland City District may have been the only Police district to experience a decrease in dwelling burglaries over the last 12 months (-9%) but we continue to have a low resolution rate (6.2%) and we simply have to get better results for victims of these crimes.
“We have also seen a spike in burglaries since the beginning of the year which means that burglars are becoming more confident and active in our city so we must stop them.”
Operation Resolve will use a number of tactics to target burglars with pressure being placed on those with a known history of such offending and also those known to have previously received stolen goods.
“We intend to strongly oppose bail for any offenders arrested for burglary, we will be working closely with our colleagues in both Waitemata and Counties to identify suspects who are travelling across borders to offend and we will be using a number of other new tactics to keep the pressure on those intent on continuing this type of offending.
“Breaking into people’s homes and stealing their personal items is one of the most devastating invasions of privacy, it leaves people feeling vulnerable in their own homes and we have a responsibility to do all we can to manage such crimes as effectively and efficiently as possible.
“We have made some good progress in terms of seeing a reduction in the number of burglaries across the city which shows that the prevention work being done by staff is having an impact, however we owe it to victims to get even better results and Operation Resolve will help us do this.”
ENDS
Media Note: Please contact Tracie Simpson - tracie.simpson@police.govt.nz/ 021 949 731 to arrange interviews.