They were chilling figures - more than 90 per cent of burglaries in New Zealand were unsolved.
That was one of the findings of a major New Zealand Herald investigation last year, showing criminals got away with 164 burglaries a day - prompting then Minister of Police, Judith Collins, to undertake that, from the end of August, burglaries would be treated as priority offences and all home break-ins would be attended by police.
Estimates from the police - who said they had no accurate figures at the time - suggested they were attending 70 per cent of burglaries, meaning 30 per cent (or more than 20,000 burglaries nationally) were not.
The very next month showed no relief for homeowners or police - in the 12 months to the end of September, burglaries rose almost 18 per cent to 72,776, according to Statistics New Zealand. The number of burglaries in September dropped nationally when compared to August but only by 290, to 6361.
Collins said in October preliminary findings of a police review showed they were then getting to 90 per cent of all burglaries - but still down from the 100 per cent target.
Yet among all the gloom over burglary statistics, one small ray of light shone. In Hamilton, a canny homeowner who had installed a Morepork security system not only detected a burglary, he alerted the police, helping to apprehend the burglar and ensure his stolen goods were recovered.
Morepork is a self-install system which uses cameras and sensors to send alerts to a homeowner's phone or tablet and allows the operator to see inside or outside their home. Thomas Patterson was grateful for the system's abilities when, driving home, it alerted him to an intruder.
He called the police and opened the back door of his home, making the burglar flee out the front. The Morepork camera had identified not only the offender but also the stolen goods, prompting Patterson to say at the time: "I got my gear back, which means the system basically paid for itself. So often people don't think about security until after a burglary but it's a bit late then."
There's more - a national survey undertaken at the end of last year showed that one in three New Zealanders believe the country is less safe than a year ago.
According to Morepork CEO Gemma Croombs, that is almost certainly the result of public concern over rising crime rates - in which burglary is perceived to play a large role.
The survey, held by AIG, the country's largest insurer, ranked burglary second equal behind drug dealing when Kiwis were asked about the crimes that concerned them most (equal with assault, robbery and drink-driving).
While two out of three New Zealanders felt the country was as safe or safer than a year ago, women had the most negative perception - with nearly 39 per cent saying it was less safe. About 28 per cent of men felt the same.
Croombs says the Herald series on burglary resulted in a huge uplift in interest - and sales - as people obviously decided to protect themselves.
"We noticed a lot of activity during that series and again this holiday period. People were going away on holiday and wanted a solution - and we had a summer offer which has been very popular as we ask people to sign up for 12 months and we gift them the starter kit, worth about $500." To find out more on the summer offer click here.
Users can peek into their home during the day via the Morepork app, arm and disarm the alarm remotely, check whether the doors and windows are closed and see whether the kids got home from school safely.
"The difference really with Morepork versus a standard house alarm is Morepork shows you what's happening; you know exactly what is going on. A standard alarm is also hard-wired to your house," she says. Which usually makes them more expensive to install and you need to be at the house to know what's going on."
"We designed Morepork to give people piece of mind through smart simple technology which means they can always keep an eye on what is going on at home - and take action."
Busy Morepork owners don't have to keep an eye on their homes themselves; professional monitoring can easily be arranged.
New Zealand is not alone in grappling with burglaries. In 2015, British newspapers reported that four out of five burglaries were never solved.
Police forces in England and Wales shut down 80.2 per cent of investigations into break-ins without identifying a suspect, the reports said. Police chiefs claimed families should no longer expect officers to investigate crimes like burglaries - because their manpower needed to concentrate on sex attacks, terrorism and other more series offences.
It also emerged that Leicestershire Police were declining to attend attempted burglaries at houses with odd street numbers in a bizarre cost-cutting measure; police also told burglary victims they might have to email their own evidence to the police instead of officers visiting homes.
For more information on Morepork click here.