On the run Locals on wanted list

Wairarapa had more then 90 people wanted by the law and on the run earlier this year but officials say even one arrest warrant is too many.

Statistics obtained by the Time-Age under the Official Information Act show 92 people had warrants out for their arrest at the end of June.

Of these, eight were for acts intended to cause injury and two were for sexual assault or related offences.

The highest number of warrants (35) were for people for offences against justice procedure, government security and government operations and 11 were for traffic and regulatory offences.

Sensible Sentencing Trust national spokesman Garth McVicar said any number of outstanding warrants was too many.

"Often we find there are victims involved and from the victims' point of view they start to loose confidence in the system."

He said police need to follow up the warrants with "diligence" to stop sending criminals the "wrong message".

Wairarapa Police Area Commander Inspector Brent Register said warrants were assessed on a case-by-case basis but only some were actively investigated.

These were generally warrants for high-risk people or people on "parole recall" which means they had left prison but breached their release conditions.