Editorial: Hats off to our police officers

I thank my lucky stars I haven't been a victim of many crimes.

Some low-life stole my car from outside my family home when I was a teenager but for some strange reason dumped it up the road with the lights still on, so I got it back pretty quickly.

Another criminal tried to steal my beloved HQ Holden Kingswood back in the early 1990s. The irony was I had parked it opposite Hamilton police station while I was out with the cops on a fly-on-the-wall news assignment. They left the car behind but butchered the steering column in trying to get it started.

But not everyone is so lucky. Thousands of people are dramatically affected by crime each year. They are personally injured and have their lives and homes violated by low-life criminals.

Often the only thing standing in their way is the police. And in the Western Bay, it appears our police are doing a fine job of it.

Latest crime figures, released yesterday, show overall reported crime in the Western Bay area has dropped 13.8 per cent. Homicides and sex crimes are up, but other crimes such as robberies, abductions, thefts and burglaries are down.

Total recorded crime fell 5.6 per cent in the wider Bay of Plenty police district although Eastern Bay area struggled, recording an increase of 8.2 per cent. The Western Bay figures are good news and demonstrate the fine work our local police did last year.

Policing must be challenging and officers are often in the firing line. By the nature of their jobs, police officers come into conflict with some of the community's less desirable elements.

But it must also be satisfying making a difference and helping those who need it.

Acting Bay police chief Inspector Karl Wright-St Clair thanked the community and organisations that work with the police when commenting on the latest figures.

He's right to highlight the importance of the community working together. The police can't do their job alone.

They need people to act as good citizens and report crime, and collectively we must take a stand against crime.

It must be frustrating for police trying to get crime down when so much of it is outside their control.

Former area commander Mike Clement, promoted to a superintendent and district commander in Auckland, should take a bow as this positive result happened on his watch.

The men and women he once led here should also celebrate.

But crime never sleeps. It's 2012 now and another calendar year for criminals to wreak havoc.

The challenge for police and the community is to keep the pressure on and announce another positive result this time next year.