Minister congratulates Police on encouraging crime statistics

The Minister of Police, George Hawkins, has today congratulated the New Zealand Police on encouraging crime statistics for the year ended 31 December 2000.

The statistics show a drop in crime and an improvement in the proportion of crimes resolved by Police.

Key achievements include:
* Fewer victims of crime – there were almost 210 fewer recorded offences each week during the first year of the Labour Alliance Government. The 2.5% drop in overall recorded offences corresponds to 10,844 less offences than in 1999;
* More criminals are being caught - almost 130 more crimes were resolved per week in 2000 compared to 1999 - an impressive 41.4% of recorded offences were resolved. In 1999 only 38.9% of offences were resolved.
* A 5.3% drop in the number of dishonesty offences, including burglary.

“These results speak volumes about the dedication of our police men and women,” said George Hawkins. “This Government promised to get tough on crime and the Police have worked hard to help us achieve that promise.

“Since coming to office the Labour Alliance Government has committed over $100 million in extra police funding, including substantial funding for anti-burglary and youth crime initiatives.

“The drop in crime and improvement in resolutions are great achievements in the first year of the Labour/Alliance Government” said Mr Hawkins. “Looking back to 1991, the first year of National’s reign I see that the year end crime statistics were nothing short of disappointing. In fact, in that year we saw recorded offences jump by a huge 8.9% and the rate of resolution drop down to 29.9%.

“These results tell us that New Zealand is a more secure place to be, which will be welcome news for law-abiding New Zealanders.” said Hawkins “but the news is all bad for crooks – it is not a good time to be out there committing crime because our Police are doing a super job.”
George Hawkins said he was looking forward to seeing the results of key initiatives to crack down on serious crime including:
*In 2000 the Government passed the Bail Act, which will keep serious offenders off the streets;
* The Minister of Justice recently announced details of the Sentencing and Parole Reform Bill which will see the worst offenders locked up for longer;
* The Criminal Investigations (Bodily Samples) Amendment Bill will pave the way for other major changes in the fight against crime including allowing DNA samples to be collected by taking mouth swabs.

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