Auckland Council and Wellington should adopt five ideas to help curb crime and anti-social behaviour, Auckland mayoral candidate Viv Beck says.

The Crime Snapshot to the end of February shows crime in Auckland has risen a devastating 27 per cent, almost 50 per cent higher than the increase in crime nationwide.

“Concerns about crime and antisocial behaviour continue to be raised by people across the city but there has been no increased police resource or any move to better management of emergency housing.

“On Monday I wrote to Poto Williams suggesting we work together to come up with solutions to help stop crime from taking over our city. Today, I have five fixes the Government and Auckland Council should back to start solving the problem:

1. Bring back the Auckland Central Police Station – it is well past time we bring back a permanent presence in our city. It should include better surveillance and lighting in our central city, as well as expanding better lighting across the city in trouble spots.
2. Improve policing resource in Auckland based on population, including making it a priority to bring more staff on to help curb anti-social and criminal behaviour.
3. Pass the Firearms Prohibition Orders Legislation Bill which will improve public safety by preventing people whose behaviour and actions represent a high risk of violence, or reflect an underlying risk of violence, from being able to access firearms or restricted weapons.
4. Better local collaboration between Police, Council, Wellington and community organisations to bring better wrap around services to those that need it – there are great local initiatives that can make a real difference if they get the right backing and support from all involved.
5. Restart the small business safety measures fund from Wellington to curb aggravated robberies and crime at dairies, superettes and small local businesses. To November 2019, 500 small businesses benefited from the scheme which installed over 500 fog cannons and other safety measures costing $2.2m.

“Aucklanders have been calling for more local police resources and greater community safety action repeatedly over the last two years, and it has sadly fallen on deaf ears. It is critical that Aucklanders are supported by effective action from their politicians.

“Aucklanders are rightly asking ‘is this as good as it gets?’. The answer is resoundingly no. As Mayor, resolving these issues will need a much more focused approach from Auckland Council and Wellington, and this will be a key priority for me.”

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