Burglary bust great operation by police

One reporter even wondered if her lawnmower, stolen from her shed weeks ago, would be among the collection.

Burglary "wins" are easily among the most satisfying crime stories to write, as demonstrated in yesterday's front page lead over the police discovery of a major pile of stolen items at a Lansdowne address.

We don't know the complete details yet, but because we've been writing a few burglary stories lately, the poor reporter was pestered with queries from the newsroom staff about what was contained in the haul, when he returned from the crime scene.

Plenty of what the police had found rang a bell with a story someone had written. It's already apparent that one school's loss of TV hardware could now be resolved. One reporter even wondered if her lawnmower, stolen from her shed weeks ago, would be among the collection.

Crime has fallen in Wairarapa, down 9 per cent, according to recently-released statistics.

Burglary scores among the lowest in getting a resolution, which is why it must be so satisfying for police to have such a big win. It's not surprising that burglaries are hard to resolve. It's a stealthy, (usually) non-confrontational crime dealing in mass-produced goods that can end up on auction sites on the internet. Apart from the occasional idiot who leaves blood on the scene, I can imagine police don't have a lot to go on in individual situations.

Crime can be random, individualised and one-off, but it can also be a network, an operation, with multiple criminals. At court we see plenty of random and somewhat hopeless individuals, who seem to be solo operators and opportunists. But the adage of strength in numbers holds true for crime, and there are some insidious networks out there.

To 'bust' an operation is a major score, and we definitely need to salute the detectives and uniforms who put weeks and months into getting a result. It might seem it takes ages to land something, and I know for some burglary victims there might never be an outcome. And sometimes, like the Lansdowne haul, there's a bit of good luck thrown in.

But however it happened, it's all good police work - and great news for multiple victims.