Campaign to reduce crime

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 34012, 28 November 1975, Page 14

Campaign to reduce crime

A national crin paign is being org church Lions clubs, police. It is based on thesuccessful “Speak Up” campaign, which was ( run in Christchurch last i year. 1 The campaign, which will l begin in March, has the backing of the police, and;' the Lions expect to spend i $174,000 to make it a sue-? cess. The police representative]; on the campaign’s steering" committee is the crime prevention officer in Christ- ■ ; church (Detective Sergeant;; B. J. Preston). 1 He says that the feasibility]' of such a campaign depends 11 on the amount of money the organisers can raise. GRANTS MADE So far, the New Zealand,] Insurance Council has given $lO,OOO, the State Insurance 1 Company has given $5OOO. and the Government has made a grant of $20,000. Lions clubs throughout the country will be running pro-; motional evenings, selling; stickers and taking part in; the property identification scheme to raise extra money. “In general we are trying to get the public to understand that they can cut down, the crime rate if they take normal precautions,” Mr Preston said. “I am not saying we can cut out crime completely, but we can help prevent it.” CAR STICKERS The organisers plan to get the scheme across to the public by using the media, especialy television. Car stickers and 90.000 booklets; would also be distributed; around the country, he said. “We want people to ring the police and report anything they think is suspicious. There is no need to give

nc-prev ention camjanised by Christin liaison with the a name and address, just tell us and we will check it out. -“Last year, we got a 23 per cent increase in recorded calls and an 18 per cent increase in arrests. WILLING TO ASSIST "We like to think that this was attributable to the cam paign. One thing we did find out was that people were willing to speak up and assist their law enforcement body. “As well, and there is no secret about it, our depart ment received some good constructive criticism, and we like to put our own house in order. “The ‘Speak Up’ campaign begins in March and will run for six weeks and then, depending. on our finances, we hope to keep up some sort of continuity for a w’hile longer. IMAGE OF POLICE "The most important thing about the whole campaign is that it is being run by the Lions. The police are involved only in an advisory capacity. “If the police conducted the campaign, people would be bound to say that we were just griding our own axe. but it is a public body which is helping the police and providing the public with a service.” Mr Preston said that the image of the police had improved over the last three or four years. “There has been more public acceptance of the police force recently and I believe it is one of the finest in the world. “We don’t use violence unless we have to, we are not armed, and the appointment of community constables is a step in the right direction.”