Rotorua robbery victims praise police as troops bolstered

Milesh Kumar of Westbrook's Sunset Pricecutter said police were not given enough credit for their good work. Photo/File

We continue a series on election issues. This week, reporter Jordan Bond looks at police numbers.

Retailers have praised Rotorua police's hard work in investigating and tracking down thieves and robbers, and say a lot of their results go unnoticed and under appreciated.

This applause of local officers comes before Rotorua police are bolstered by an additional three officers working in the Tactical Crime Unit who will investigate robberies and thefts of shops and cars.

Milesh Kumar, the manager of Westbrook's Sunset Pricecutter, has had his store robbed three or four times and said police apprehended the offenders every time.

"All of those occasions. They are doing their job but a lot of it is not publicised," Mr Kumar said.

"Police were very responsive and managed to catch the offenders. Not enough credit is given to them for the work they do, they can [only work] with the resources the Government provides them."

He said the addition of three new crime officers this year - the first part of the four-year roll out of 880 extra officers nationwide - would benefit the police and the community even more.

Bay of Plenty Police has had 662 full time constabulary staff since 2013. Population growth and increases in reported crime led to Police Association president Chris Cahill saying the nationwide police system was "nearly broken" before the Government announced the roll out of extra officers.

"It's basically got to breaking point before these resources were announced, and there's a four year lead in to get them all," Mr Cahill said.

"It was left far too long."

Another retailer whose stores have been targeted by aggravated robbers praised Rotorua police very highly.

"Rotorua police is very good - they're excellent. I'd give them five stars," the owner said, who didn't want to be named.

"I've been in Rotorua for the last 10 or 11 years, and I've never had any single complaint about police in Rotorua.

"Last time we had a robbery, my staff were hit with a hammer. The police came and their response was very good and they've caught these people."

The owner said after one robbery, the staff didn't call police immediately. He said they turned up 20 minutes later and said they'd already arrested the offenders, even without being notified.

Inspector Stu Nightingale said their investigative efforts into volume crime will be strengthened. Photo/File

Public perception of safety in Rotorua has increased in the last few years.

The most recent available Rotorua Lakes Council Perceptions of Safety report showed 79 per cent of people surveyed said they felt safe or very safe at night in their local neighbourhood in 2015, up from 73 per cent in 2011.

The same survey also found a decrease in the number of people who thought CBD parking was unsafe. Forty-three per cent of people agreed there were unsafe areas to park their car in the CBD, down from 64 per cent in 2011.

However, total reported crime in the Rotorua district has increased 28 per cent in the last three years. Police data showed in the year to June 2017, 5996 offences were recorded, up from 4682 in the year to June 2015.

Police intelligence documents released to the Rotorua Daily Post showed in a seven week period earlier this year, dairies were by far the most commonly targeted commercial location for aggravated robberies nationwide. Liquor stores were second, followed by petrol stations.

Thirty per cent of aggravated robberies involved a firearm, a knife in 27 per cent of cases, and a blunt instrument in 25 per cent.

"It's likely [the]perceived ease of committing an aggravated robbery with a low risk of apprehension is motivating offenders," it said.

Rotorua police area prevention manager Inspector Stuart Nightingale said the first year's allocation of three extra Tactical Crime Unit officers would work on investigating and arresting perpetrators of "volume crime" - theft of cars and robberies of stores.

"That's an area that creates a lot of concern for our Rotorua public," Mr Nightingale said.

He said there was a team of five already involved in this area and the extra three would boost the team's positive outcomes.

"So when we get a burglary or theft from cars, it's their job to stop the offending happening, to apprehend the offenders that do it and to prevent the offending from continuing to happen."

"They're a very proactive frontline group that drive marked vehicles. They do a lot of search warrants . . . they recover stolen property, they stop vehicles . . . Most of the work they do is out of the station.

"We only put in high achievers in those positions. Generally they're people that want to become detectives."

Mr Nightingale said the Bay of Plenty policing district would also get two other officers working in the Child Protection Team and would be based in Rotorua.

Mr Kumar said the continuing crime was not police's fault but partially rested on the law, which he said was too soft.

"It depends on the sentence the judges give them. If they're giving them soft sentences like home detention that's not really a big deterrent to other offenders."

The other retailer agreed. He said the law was too soft and made it tough on police who were continually dealing with fearless offenders.

"There's nothing wrong with police . . . it's the law. They take them to court and nothing happens."