Cyclone Gabrielle: Hawke’s Bay police call for people to report crimes to them, not social media

Caroline Martin, Hawke’s Bay Recovery Lead Acting Inspector, says police want more people to report to them when they see, or are victims of crime, rather than posting to social media first. Photo / Paul Taylor

Hawke’s Bay police are calling for people to report crimes in flood-affected communities to them rather than only posting about them on social media.

Senior Sergeant Caroline Martin has taken up the temporary role of Cyclone Gabrielle Hawke’s Bay Recovery Lead Acting Inspector, made as part of the Hawke’s Bay police response to Cyclone Gabrielle.

She said gaining an accurate understanding of what is going on in cyclone-affected communities has been an ongoing challenge for police.

“We are still hearing of incidents via social media and other forms of communication that haven’t been reported to police,” Martin said.

“We need people to report incidents, however big or small, to police. It makes it very hard to respond to things if we don’t know about them.”

She said they initially had over 600 police staff over about four months coming to and from Hawke’s Bay to bolster police numbers in the area after Cyclone Gabrielle.

Due to local police recruits in July, they were able to maintain an increased police presence in cyclone-hit rural communities six months on, after some of the extra staff from out of the region had left.

She said police had seen increases in crimes like burglary and theft incidents in some areas compared to before Cyclone Gabrielle.

“We have seen some of our impacted areas experience an increase in dishonesty reporting. This is something we monitor and actively follow up any lines of inquiry.”

She said it was a positive sign that police had also seen an increase in suspicious activity reporting in those same areas, which meant that people were proactively keeping police informed to prevent crime before it happened.

“We think it is great that our communities can be our eyes and ears as well,” she said.

“If people do see something suspicious, we encourage them to report it.”

“We’ve had some really good results recently with people who have reported crime to us in those flood-affected areas where we have been able to identify those who are responsible and put them before the court.”

In an earlier statement, Martin said police “strongly discourage” people from taking the law into their own hands and putting themselves in harm’s way.

She said she was not personally aware of any incidents of vigilantism in Hawke’s Bay, but she was meeting with concerned Esk Valley residents on Tuesday this week.

She said road safety had also been an important component of the police response, with damage and repairs still taking place.

“There are still some areas with reduced speed signs, so we are involved with some of the enforcement around those temporary speed limits. They are there for a reason and we ask people to be respectful.”

People can call 111 in an emergency and call 105 or anonymously submit a report online for non-emergencies when the incident has already happened.

James Pocock joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2021 and writes breaking news and features, with a focus on environment, local government and post-cyclone issues in the region. He has a keen interest in finding the bigger picture in research and making it more accessible to audiences. He lives in Napier. james.pocock@nzme.co.nz