Wave of vandalism, car theft in the city

A number of Hamilton City Council facilities have been targeted by vandals. Photo / Hamilton City Council

Hamilton is facing a winter wave of crime with a spate of car thefts and vandalism rocking some suburbs.

Hamilton City Council is urging residents to stay vigilant and report suspicious activity around community-owned assets after vandalism, break-ins and thefts at sites managed by Hamilton City Council.

In the last two months, four separate sites have been targeted by criminals — including vandalism of a public toilet block in Frankton's Swarbrick Park, which had been refurbished after a suspicious fire in 2018. Police are also dealing with a spike in night-time car break-ins in northern suburbs.

Council's parks and recreation manager Maria Barrie says the other sites targeted in recent weeks have been Norris Ward Park where a break-in occurred at the Arts Centre, and Te Rapa Sportsdrome, where cars and the building itself have been broken into on several occasions and thieves stole a barbecue. Storage sheds at the Stadium Bowling Club have also been broken into.

"This is extremely frustrating for our staff, the public and our stakeholders," Ms Barrie said. "Damage, theft and vandalism ultimately costs ratepayers' money and mean we have to divert funding away from other projects."

Ms Barrie says staff are working with the council's city safe unit and tenant and stakeholder organisations to determine how criminal behaviour can be deterred — but the support of the community is vital.

"We report all these instances to police, and our message to the community is for them to support us with that. If any members of the public see suspicious or criminal activity in or near any of our buildings or sites, we want them to contact police and the council."

Councillor Dave Macpherson is involved with Waikato Volleyball which has a long-term presence at Te Rapa Sportsdrome, and says the thefts "reflect badly on us as event and sports organisers".

Cars broken into at Te Rapa Sportsdrome belonged to volleyball players and the organisation would be ensuring it had people monitoring the site when it had events on.
Hamilton's northern suburbs have been targeted in a wave of recent car thefts and break-ins, with Waikato Police asking residents to make sure cars are locked and valuables removed.

"We, like the people of north Hamilton no doubt are aware of a spike in vehicle crime in the city's northern suburbs," the Waikato Police posted on Facebook.

"We have our Intel section and a number of tactical workgroups working on resolving it.

There's are a few areas affected and the patterns are different. Residential areas have been hit at night, while cars in commercial/retail locations tend to be during the day."

The police ask that any car thefts be reported to them on the new non-emergency phone number 105.