Well done Rotorua!
I just wanted to start by thanking everyone in Rotorua for the valuable information you provide police every day to make this beautiful city a safer place to live. Without good intelligence we cannot be as effective as we are in preventing and reducing crime - so the 8 per cent reduction in crime is truly a great reflection on all of you as a community.
Yesterday I had a meeting with the representatives of Community Patrols of New Zealand (CPNZ) - for the Bay of Plenty, Shirley Vincent, and for Ngongotaha, Sharon Fleet. The volunteers of CPNZ have patrols in Western Heights and Ngongotaha that do a fantastic job being the "eyes and ears" of their communities. Serious crimes are mostly solved by small pieces of "key" intelligence and it's our volunteers across Rotorua who often find the key to solving big crimes.
Our Maori wardens are the same and I take my hat off to their determination and the time they put into this place - they care a lot about Rotorua and should be rightly proud of their work. I am.
Finally, well done Acting Senior Sergeant Pauline Jones who planned and led Rotorua's Operation Presence last Friday. We visited 42 schools, kohanga reo and pre-school centres, handing out pamphlets and giving advice on the upcoming child restraint laws. The schools were happy to see us, and we had good feedback from a lot of them about our interaction.
