New Zealanders are right to be afraid of burglars

“A poll in a major morning newspaper shows New Zealanders are afraid they will be burgled. They are definitely right about that,” said Dr. Jamie Whyte ACT Leader.

“Official Police statistics report less than half of the burglaries that actually take place."

"We have all been burgled or know someone who has been. The Treasury says the real number of burglaries per year is around 120,000.”

“Burglary has become a blight on our society. That is because the risk for burglars is astonishingly low".

"Less than 3% of burglaries result in a conviction. Less than 1% result in a prison sentence. And the average prison sentence is only 15 months, half of which is served. There is no way a 1% chance of spending eight months in prison is a sufficient deterrent.”

“ACT’s 3 strikes for violent crime has seen violent crime fall. So far no one so far has incurred a 3rd strike. 3 strikes for burglary will also be successful. In Britain when a Labour government introduced 3 strikes for burglary then later a mandatory prison sentence burglary dropped by one third."

"Burglary is an offence that is suffered mostly by the poor who cannot afford security systems, insurance and fencing. They resort to keeping dogs to protect themselves against burglars but that doesn’t work out too well sometimes. Dogs have higher running costs than a burglar alarm.” said Dr Whyte

"I think MPs would fix burglary tomorrow if they thought their families were at risk of being burgled," said Dr Whyte

"I tell voters if you have been burgled get even, party vote ACT. If you do not want to be burgled,party vote ACT,” said Dr Whyte

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