By EUGENE BINGHAM political reporter
Police will be ordered to respond to burglaries within 24 hours under a tough new anti-crime package which will give them the right to fingerprint children as young as 10.
The move to give break-in victims "same-day service" from the police comes as Police Minister George Hawkins draws up plans to tackle burglary, the crime that affects most New Zealanders.
Planned law changes will not be introduced to Parliament until next year.
In the meantime, the minister expects police to respond to burglary complaints within 24 hours or face his wrath. He told the Herald yesterday that he had made it clear to senior officers that burglary should be their key focus.
"It's not that long ago police didn't always turn up to burglaries for up to five days. [These days] that would be a very rare example, and I would certainly be furious if it happened."
The number of burglaries fell 5 per cent last year, but the total still reached 74,000.
Labour made burglary an election issue and promised it would hit burglars hard. Mr Hawkins insisted yesterday that he had made it a priority and said the Government was working on a package that would target juvenile offenders in particular.
Some of the details include:
* Changing the law to give police the right to fingerprint children as young as 10. As it stands, police require parental consent to fingerprint children under 17.
* Toughening up the Second Hand Dealers Act and Pawnbrokers Act to make it harder to fence stolen goods.
* Setting crime reduction targets for district commanders.
A number of initiatives are also expected to be announced in the May Budget. The law changes will not be introduced until next year because of the full legislative programme.
Mr Hawkins said he was meanwhile encouraging police to seek parents' permission to fingerprint young offenders. This enabled officers to compare prints with other crime scenes, giving both parents and police an insight into what the child had been doing.
Police in Hawkes Bay had used fingerprints last week to link two teenagers with 80 car break-ins, he said. In Wellington, a pilot programme was also proving successful, with many children saved from a life of crime.
Other parts of the country were also doing well with good local initiatives. He singled out North Shore-Waitakere and Counties-Manukau in particular.
"There is now a real emphasis coming on trying to cut down the number of burglaries by making sure that crooks know police are hounding them."
Police Association president Greg O'Connor said officers knew they could crack down on burglary rates, if only they had the resources. Insisting that break-in scenes were attended quickly would instil in the public a belief that police were on top of burglaries.
"Community perceptions are important ... but it can't come at the expense of having cops out there knocking doors down and locking up burglars," said Mr O'Connor.
Opposition justice spokesman Tony Ryall said Mr Hawkins was "shooting off at the lip."
"The guy is reneging on commitments for extra police all around the country," he said. He believed Mr Hawkins was reduced to talking tough because Government divisions were preventing him from taking any action.
Battling burglary - a Herald series
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