People More Likely To Report Incidents Of Assault To Police
Recent data shows that people are increasingly likely
to report instances of
assault in New
Zealand.
The reporting of interpersonal crimes like
assault, robbery, harassment, and
threatening
behaviour has increased to 30% from 25% two years ago,
according
to the Ministry of Justice annual Crime
and Victim Survey.
However, according to the same
survey the total amount of crime being
committed
has stayed the same.
The reporting of an additional 5%
of all interpersonal crime translates to a
20%
increase in the crime reported and visible to Police. This
translates
to a significant rise in the total
crimes of this nature our staff
respond
to.
Assistant Commissioner Bruce
O’Brien says the rise shows people feel
more
confident in reporting incidents where they
have been victimised.
“We continue to encourage
people to report crime to police so we have
the
best opportunity to prevent further
harm.”
According to the New Zealand Crime and Victim
Survey the most common reasons
for not reporting
interpersonal violence, sexual assault, and
physical
offence incidents were shame,
embarrassment, further humiliation, and
potential
fear of reprisals that would make matters worse.
“We
have the best opportunity to support the victim and their
family in
addressing the harm they have suffered,
if it’s reported to us as early as
possible,”
Assistant Commissioner O’Brien says.
“Some people
don’t see any point in reporting crimes they don’t
think
will be solved, we need people to feel
confident that police will take their
complaints
seriously and provide the range of support services that
are
required.”
Most-recent data form the
NZCVS indicates that only 25% of all crime
goes
reported to Police.
Motor vehicle crime
had the highest likelihood of being reported at
89%,
while cybercrime and sexual assault were the
least-likely at 8% and
6%
respectively.
Reporting crimes has also
been made easier through new channels such as
105.
The multi-agency work through Integrated
Safety Response and Whāngaia Ngā
Pā Harakeke
programmes has also enabled Police’s partner agencies
to
report family harm violence that would not be
recorded by traditional
reporting
channels.
Police data showing reported
crimes:
Calendar Year
Oct - Dec 2017
2018
2019
2020
Jan - May 2021
Serious Assault Resulting in Injury
3007
13380
18600
21393
9183
Serious Assault Not Resulting in Injury
3473
12119
17019
21353
10149
Common Assault
6881
24151
19049
19084
8720
Total
13361
49650
54668
61830
28052
Fiscal Year
Oct 2017 – Jun2018
YE June 2019
YE June 2020
Jul 2020 – May 2021
Serious Assault Resulting in Injury
8969
15850
20587
20157
Serious Assault Not Resulting in Injury
9843
13254
19692
21324
Common Assault
19005
21688
18292
18900
Total
37817
50792
58571
60381
CVS data showing total crime:
Incidents: Total number of offences
NZCVS cycle
Cycle 1
Cycle 2
Cycle 3
Total
709000
661000
673000
Assaults and Robberies
234000
218000
233000
Sexual Assault
167000
180000
158000
Harrassment and Threatening Behaviour
282000
228000
255000