KEY POINTS:
A Hastings police officer has recovered $70,000 worth of stolen road signs after the thieves were given an amnesty to return their trophies.
Detective Sergeant Darren Pritchard was alerted to the problem by a chance conversation with a fellow rugby player after a game.
The player, a roading contractor, was lamenting the theft of road signs and cones around the area, which left his firm with a $60,000 replacement bill, police magazine Ten One reported.
Mr Pritchard said the cost was in turn passed onto the taxpayer and the missing signs were a hazard for drivers and pedestrians.
So, in 2004, he began a campaign to have them returned by offering a "no questions asked" week-long amnesty in Hastings, called Operation Lollipop.
It was a resounding success that saw $30,000 worth of signs returned.
He repeated the operation last December for two weeks and widened the amnesty area to include Napier.
He received $40,000 worth of stolen goods, including a speed camera, railway crossing and liquor ban signs.
"We had a grandmother pulling up in front of the police station and getting out of the car with a stop sign under her arm and hauling out her nine-year-old grandson to hand it over," Mr Pritchard said.
"It was a great success and cost nothing to run.
"The offenders come to us, we collect it and a local roading contractor returns the property to the complainants.
"There are some pretty happy contractors around getting back their gear."
Mr Pritchard said it was a concept other areas might want to take on, particularly student cities where signs were regularly taken as "trophies".
- NZPA
