New body to fight arson

Press, 12 March 1983, Page 22

New body to fight arson

PA Wellington An organisation is being set up to fight the rapidly growing scourge of arson. A chapter of the International Association of Arson Investigators will begin to hold quarterly meetings from May. Membership already exceeds 30. Members come from occupations such as the Fire Service, police, forensic science, insurance, private investigators, and the security industry. Mr lan Robinson, of New Zealand Insurance, said the organisation was concerned about arson, as it was a rapidly growing scourge. An estimate last year put the total cost of arson to

New Zealand at $2O million a year. Mr Robinson said that was probably a conservative figure. "One also wonders how long it will be before there is a major tragedy involving loss of life at the hands of an arsonist," he said. Mr Robinson said the chapter hoped that as it grew the number of arsonists caught would increase, with a corresponding drop in thq rate of arson. He said that when the public became aware that a skilled investigator could usually determine the cause of a building fire. New Zealand would be well on the way to solving its rapidly growing arson problem.