Hon John Luxton, Minister of Police

Minister's Press Release Police Press Release Key Points for the Year
	Statistical Summary for Year Ended 30 June 1996   National Reported crime Total Reported and Cleared Crime National Reported Crime by Class and Group National Reported Crime by Police District Proportion of Total Reported Crime by Group Total Offences by Group National Traffic Offences and Infringements National Traffic Offences and Infringements by Police Districts

Press Release by Minister

Friday 30 August 1996

Minister of Police, Hon John Luxton

CRIME AND ROAD SAFETY STATISTICS CONTINUE THE POLICING SUCCESS STORY

The Minister of Police, Hon John Luxton today welcomed the release by Police of the crime and road safety statistics for the June year 1996, saying that they showed very good trends in many key policing areas.

"We have a policing success story to tell and these latest statistics are good news for our communities," said Mr Luxton.

"It certainly disproves recent comments that "crime is out of control". In my view, it is considerably more under control now than under previous governments. The increase in reported crime continues to remain just above 2%.

"This trend has developed over the last few years since the Government initiated both the merger of the Police with the old Traffic Safety Division, the extra 900 Police, and we have seen the implementation of the Police five year strategic plan since 1993.

"I am delighted to see that violent offending and serious assaults have decreased and that burglaries have also continued a downward trend," said the Minister.

"The road safety and enforcement statistics show quite clearly that Police are doing a very good job on our roads, again disputing recent claims that the job was not being done. We continue to see the road toll lower than in previous years and enforcement of driving offences has increased considerably.

"I congratulate Police on their excellent work but reducing crime and improving road safety needs help from our local communities also. It is not a job for Police alone.

"The Government has worked very hard to enhance the partnership role between Government, Police, local communities and other agencies to focus on crime prevention and road safety," Mr Luxton said.

"We are successfully implementing the New Zealand Crime Prevention Strategy announced in 1994 which is the first time such a strategy has been developed for New Zealand. We have also initiated Safer Community Councils with 52 established covering 86% of our population. These Councils are doing a very good job of c0-ordinating local crime prevention initiatives.

"I welcome the support we have been receiving from local communities in promoting crime prevention. We are also receiving excellent support in the road safety area but we still need to keep promoting safe driving practices to all drivers.

"I believe these latest statistics can reassure New Zealanders that we are successfully dealing with crime and road safety issues and are also a good response to the misinformed critics," concluded Mr Luxton

Ends

Press Release from National Police HQ

29 August, 1996

Statistics show police success

Police says crime statistics released today show they are making significant progress in the battle against some serious crime.
The statistics for the year ended June 1996 show reductions in violent offending and burglaries, and increased police enforcement of disorder and traffic offending.
Commissioner Peter Doone says the statistics highlight reducing crime trends and the value of the police strategic approach to crime reduction.

"In 1992 we launched a five year strategic plan seeking to reduce crime. Police adopted a more strategic approach which emphasised both targeted enforcement and a greater focus on prevention. Our aim was also to work more closely with the community and focus more on community priorities," Mr Doone says.

"Our objective was to slow the increasing crime rate, reduce violent crime &emdash; particularly family violence &emdash; and reduce offending against homes and property. Reducing serious and fatal traffic crashes and improving traffic safety were also given high priority.

"The latest statistics show we are achieving those objectives. In the four years to June 1992 crime increased by 16.1 percent, around 4 percent per year. In the four years from June 1992 to June 1996 the increase was just 1.5 percent, around 0.4 percent per year.

"In this same period we have achieved major reductions in the key areas we targeted, and substantially increased detection and reporting of others," he says.

Burglaries are down 18.9 percent, car conversion is down 14.8 percent and theft is down 2.2 percent.

Mr Doone says the police action against family violence is reflected by changes in reporting assaults on females.

"In the period 1988/89 to 1991/92 male assaults female offences rose 27.3 percent. The combination of awareness campaigns and a change in approach to dealing with family violence by police and other agencies led to a 66 percent increase in reporting of this type of offending between 1992/93 and 1995/96.

"This year, for the first time we actually have a 7.3 percent reduction in male assaults female, contributing to a decrease in overall violent offending," Mr Doone says.

In the year to June 1996 total violent offending fell 1.3 percent to 45,484 offences, with homicides declining 4.8 percent, serious assaults down 4.5 percent and kidnapping and abduction down 4 percent all contributing to the reduction.

Mr Doone says overall crime and police clearance rates have remained fairly static in the June 1996 year.

Reported crime increased 2.4 percent to 515,809 offences (503,558 offences and a 2.4 percent increase in 1995) while the crime clearance rate remained around 43 percent at 42.7 (42.9 for 1995).

There are a number of areas where increasing statistics can be attributed to changes in the emphasis of policing.

While this is most significant in aspects of traffic enforcement it is also reflected in other areas, Mr Doone says.

Increases in disorder (up 4.4 percent to 29,989 offences) and trespass (up 4.2 percent to 17, 656 offences) can be attributed to police taking a tougher line against street disorder, he says.

Mr Doone says police are concerned at the increase in dishonesty offences, except burglaries and car offences which have declined. Fraud in particular is up 20.5 percent to 37,330.

"We believe there are two significant contributing factors. One is the increasing effectiveness of banks and financial institutions to monitor and detect offending themselves.

"This is leading to offences which would not previously come to police attention being dealt with.

"The other important factor is a trend by some areas of organised crime particularly gangs, to move into this area of offending as a means of funding their activity," he says.

Mr Doone says the statistics show increased police enforcement in several critical areas of traffic safety.

"In the first eight months of this year the road toll is down 50 (17 percent) on last year.

"In the year to December 1995 we had 16 percent fewer crashes where driver alcohol was a factor and five percent fewer crashes where speed was a factor," he says.

In the year to June 1996 traffic infringements are up 9.4 percent to 725, 581 and traffic offences are up 2.4 percent to 109,065.

Drink driving offences increased 8.5 percent to 32,634, driving while disqualified offences increased 6.5 percent to 12,400 and dangerous/reckless driving offences increased 7.8 percent to 4,686.

In the area of traffic infringements there was a substantial increase in issuing of infringement notices for seat belt and miscellaneous offences, up 88 percent to 23,818 offences, speeding infringements increased 28.5 percent to 47,194, while speed camera infringements increased 3.22 percent to 374, 688.

Mr Doone says while the increased traffic enforcement alone doesn't equate to road safety it is an important part of a wider strategy and shows greater committment by police to improving road safety.

"However, it remains a sad statistic that we are still finding a drink impaired driver behind the wheel of a car every 16 minutes," he says.

For further information contact

Russell Pilcher
Media Services
Police National Headquarters
PH 04 474-9588

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Crime statistics for the year ended 30 June, 1996 Key points

(June 1995 year in brackets)

Changes in offending in line with police strategic goals.
Less violent offending - more action against disorder and violence.

Violent offending decreased to 45,484, down 1.3% (+10.2%).

Serious assaults down 4.5 % (+14.5).

Male assaults female down 1.2% (+17.6).

Burglaries down 4.1% (-1.6%).

Clearance rate virtually unchanged at 42.7% (42.9%),

Reported crime up 2.4 percent (+2.4%).

Receiving up 21.6 % (-9.2%).

Fraud up 20.5% (+13.8).

Road toll down by 150 from 1990 and by 50 year to date from 1995.

Reduced percentage of fatal crashes involving speed and alcohol.

More targeting of speeding and drink/driving, promotion and enforcement of seat belts.

Seat belt miscellaneous infringements up 88 % (+25%).

Speeding infringements (excluding speed camera) up 28.5% (-10.3%).

Driving while disqualified offences up 6.5% (-7.2%).

Drink driving offence., up 8.5 % (-3.3%).




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