Crime rate ‘staggering’

Press, 15 October 1976, Page 2

Crime rate ‘staggering’

PA Wellington Criminals in New Zealand were getting vast amounts of money from “parasitic activities” such as night clubs, sauna houses and other places of entertainment, said the Commissioner of Police (Mr K. B. I Burnside) yesterday.

■ Underneath the surface of [such places, the “real lucrative activities” of drug trafficking, prostitution, gambling, illegal supply of liquor, distribution of pornography, and the receiving of and dealing in stolen property took place, Mr Burnside (said, in an address to the Dunedin Rotary Club. A decade ago, organised (crime was a phenomenon (confined to the United ‘States. “But, I am sad to say, organised crime is now here in New Zealand,” he (said. I “During the last five years, a class of organised and professional criminal ihas emerged who does not .personally commit crimes but employs others to do it (for him." Mr Burnside said. The modern New Zealand I professional criminal lived (in an expensive home, had * flashy cars, wore fashionable Iclothes. had innumerable i women. and travelled 'frequently by air, both wijthin New Zealand and overseas. He entertained lavishly i at expensive restaurants and ■clubs. In the last 10 years, there had been a dramatic increase iin the crime rate. In 1966, (there were a total of 135,000 reported offences. Last year, I the figure had risen by 73 , per cent to a “staggering”

233,644 offences, Mr Bumside said. In 1966, the prospects of New Zealanders becoming involved in the “drug scene” had seemed remote. But that year saw the thin end of the wedge with six prosecutions for supplying or possession of cannabis. These prosecutions had come as a surprise to many people, but at the same time few' had seen anything really sinister in the appearance of drugs in the street market. The police had predicted a great escalation in drug abuse — and they had been right, Mr Burnside said. “Last year, 2893 breaches of the Narcotics Act were reported. What is really alarming,, however, is that many of those offences involved hard drugs such as cocaine and heroin,” he said. “Last year, 2952 grams of heroin were seized, compared with only 31 grams in the whole of 1974.”

Many criminals had moved into the often-considered-innocuous pastime of bookmaking. The criminal had “elbowed out” many of the “local pub” bookmakers and in many instances had established large chains of bookmakers _nd agents operating in hotels, clubs, pool parlours and on the telephone. The bookmaking guise was often a cover for more sinister and lucrative activities such as trafficking in drugs and stolen goods.

Mr Burnside said he felt the police held the initiative in the “crime war” but needed society's fullest support in manpower, finance, equipment, and above all, its approval, to work effectively.

“The most certain way to ensure the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Mr Burnside said.