By NAOMI LARKIN and JOSIE CLARKE
A new crackdown on burglary has come too late for Kim Scherp, but she hopes it will save others from the disruption she has suffered.
Last May 6, she arrived home from work to find that burglars had broken into her Manurewa home for the second time, stealing a camera, video players and stereo worth $3000.
She immediately reported the theft to the police, who said they were probably too short-staffed to send an officer around.
They still have not responded.
In the meantime, fed up with living in a high-risk burglary area, Kim Scherp has sold her house at a loss and shifted into a secure Auckland City apartment to protect herself and her property.
She has also sent angry letters to the Counties-Manukau district commander, Superintendent Ted Cox, complaining that police seemed to spend too much time on revenue-gathering traffic infringements and not enough time on other crime.
Mr Cox replied that police worked hard to reduce burglaries, and policing traffic infringements was a crucial part of road safety.
Kim Scherp said the response was a "fob-off."
"I don't think revenue should be a priority if they can't turn it into extra police and send them out to burglaries."
None of her stolen property has been found, and she has heard nothing from the police about their efforts to find it or catch the burglar.
On Wednesday, Police Minister George Hawkins announced that police would be expected to respond to burglaries within 24 hours under a tough new anti-crime package.
Law changes will not be introduced to Parliament until next year, but in the meantime Mr Hawkins has made it clear to senior officers that burglary should be their key focus.
Although Kim Scherp won't benefit, she thinks this is a good idea.
"It's about time, especially when you read that there were 331 burglaries in Auckland alone over the [Easter-Anzac Day holiday] weekend."
But the Police Association is concerned that unless the Government provides more staff, the extra attention to burglary will be at the expense of other crime fighting.
Association president Greg O'Connor said yesterday that the strategy would fail if it did not have adequate resources.
"What you don't want to do is say, 'Take all resources off drug investigation, don't apprehend shoplifters or get involved in Internet crime or electronics or attend traffic accidents, but we're all going to attend burglaries.'
"Then you'll get your burglaries down, but I don't think the road will be a very safe place to drive, and there will be a lot of drugs around."
Mr O'Connor said Mr Hawkins needed to identify exactly what the Government hoped to achieve and how, rather than take a piecemeal approach.
"I'm not being critical of the minister for seeking to achieve it, but you have got to be careful about not being too simplistic about this.
"We can attend every burglary within 24 hours. That's something that's very easy, very measurable.
"But if it's at the expense of going out there and actually kicking down doors and catching burglars, then it's not going to work."
Mr Hawkins said the tough new stand on burglaries would be achieved by "a change in emphasis" in the way police operate.
"Instead of waiting five days to get around to going to a burglary, they will be going straight away. There's no more hours involved in doing that."
Battling burglary - a Herald series
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