Sex attacks, homicides mar crime drop

Recorded crime in the Bay, including burglaries, have dropped by 4.3 per cent. Photo / File

A rise in sex offences and homicide-related acts has blighted news of an otherwise downward trend in recorded crime for the Bay.

The annual statistics, released yesterday for the period July 2012 to June 2013, showed overall crime had dropped by 4.3 per cent - to 15,171 offences from 15,850 the year before.

In the Bay there were drops in robberies, burglaries, drug offending and fraud, but rises in sex offences and dangerous or negligent acts endangering people increased from the previous period, with five recorded homicide and related offences (manslaughter and driving causing death and attempted murder) last year compared with two the previous year. While the overall figures were down there was also a fall in the resolution rate.

The previous year resolving crime came in at 51.1 per cent - this year it had slipped to 48.5 per cent. The region's area commander Inspector Tania Kura has marked the latest statistics with the note "there is always room for improvement".

Nationally the resolution rate was 46.7 per cent - down from 47.6 per cent the year before. Ms Kuria said she was pleased with the drop in crime but conceded there was work to be done. "We have much more opportunity now to be more proactive and to nip crime in the bud before it happens," she said.

"New initiatives that were introduced last year mean our staff have been freed up to spend more time preventing crime and being more visible in the community.

"We now need to make the most of those opportunities and make the best use of that extra time that is now available to us - we still have a way to go," she said.

Across the 15 categories of crime, 11 showed a drop in resolution rates.

While the 11.7 per cent drop in recorded burglaries was among the highest falls, the resolution rate had slipped from 16.7 per cent to 15.8 per cent.

"We are always looking at this," Ms Kura said. "We do have a way to go."

She said the public had a major part to play in preventing and reporting crime and said there was an issue with complacency. "Thieves look for an opportunity to commit crime - don't give them that opportunity."

Burglary had been a target for police as it had a big impact on the public.

Ms Kura said a big rise in recorded sex-related assaults and offending was down to increased awareness and encouragement for females to step forward and report such offences. She said the 68.9 per cent increase over the previous year was likely to be attributed to more people coming forward with complaints, as historically there was a reluctance to report sexual assaults and rapes.

Sensible Sentencing Trust's Garth McVicar viewed the statistics with some scepticism.

He said the police did a "fantastic job" but he expressed concerns about what he called recent Government initiatives and guidelines around prosecutions.

He suspected a move toward plea bargains to lower charges had made an impact in the past three months.

Mr McVicar said recent youth offending, which had been highlighted in Hastings, was not helped by what he saw as police being encouraged to use diversion and family conference approaches rather than simply lay charges and "hold them accountable". The recorded fall in crime was a figure he described as a manipulated drop to reach a target he believed had been set by the Government. Ms Kura scotched the idea that figures were manipulated and said while there was "a way to go", the latest drop in recorded crime had continued a falling trend. The national crime figure showed a drop of 5.2 per cent.