Police boost public presence in war on crime

It’s no secret crime is a big problem in New Zealand with retail crime particularly bad in communities like South Auckland.

So what are the police doing to get on top of all this?

Police Commissioner Andrew Coster is in Auckland doing a walk along with his officers on the beat teams in the city centre.

He has reassured the public that more police presence on the streets is one way of addressing the growing crime rate.

He told Pacific Mornings’ William Terite that it was an opportunity to show the community the work of the beat teams in increasing visibility around the troubled areas.

Watch Police Commissioner Andrew Coster's interview below.

A spike in violent retail crime has been the cause for the beat boost, Coster says.

The latest move follows Coster’s announcement in May to set up a specialised unit to tackle gang crime across the country.

Coster said the National Gang Unit and District Disruption Units would target crime, harm, and intimidation caused by gangs.

"The National Gang Unit will be established as a continuation of our work, and build our operational capability further," he said.

While there were no targets, Coster said the unit would be funded by reprioritized and new investments.

The police commissioner is confident the latest boosted policing efforts will see a positive turnaround of reduced crime in communities.

“We’ve seen a real turndown in ram raids which were the presenting problem if we go back a bit and they’ve largely dropped off,” Coster told Terite.

“We have seen an uptick in robberies but as we’ve focused on repeat offenders that situation has really settled well.

“We’ve got some really positive signs that we’re not going to declare victory yet. We just need to keep doing what we’re doing.”

Photo/supplied

He said the police are also working alongside communities to disrupt organized crimes and the incidents of gang harm right through to community-based criminal activities.

“We’ve got a gang legislation coming, the banning of gang patches in response to that and to enable good enforcement of that we are standing up against gang units right across the country to enable us to focus on the new law.”

It is no secret that police officers are moving to Australia for better money and opportunities, he said.

Coster acknowledged the risks involved with the job but said he was offset by the declining numbers.

“Our underlying attrition has remained steady at around four and a half percent and that’s our long-run attrition average.

“We acknowledge there are risks of that increasing with efforts from Australia to recruit our staff.

“We are very focused on ensuring that we can build our recruiting pipeline and you will see the college really ramping up as we move towards our target of 500 additional police," Coster told Terite.

He said the government had given police additional powers to crack down on gangs, including banning gang patches in public places and extra powers to stop gang members congregating.

South Auckland business owners, who say they are dealing with crime daily, vented their frustration at Police Minister Mark Mitchell during a meeting for residents and retailers last month.

Mitchell was told there was a need for more police presence on the ground with calls for harsher penalties for offenders.

Watch Police Minister Mark Mitchell's interview below.