Dramatic rise in crime

Press, 21 August 1984, Page 6

Dramatic rise in crime

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

in Wellington Crime has risen dramatically in the last year, according to the Commissioner of Police, Mr Ken Thompson, in his annual report to Parliament. Demands for police service continued to grow and, in spite of efforts to ensure that the resources available were deployed where they were most effective, the time might have come when the police had to consider educating the public to accepting a level of police response “commensurate with the incident reported.” This would mean a lower level of attention for the non-urgent, less important

matters, he said. This would allow firstrate service to be given to urgent cases. r T am sure if this were done correctly, the public would be prepared to accept delays in routine service for the resolution of matters of vital interest,” Mr Thompson said. All statistics in the report are for the 1983 calendar year. Reported offences rose 6.7 per cent from 383,841 in 1932 to 409,745 in 1983, and the over-all clearance rate of 47.7 per cent was down on the 48.4 per cent in 1982. There were 47 murders during the year (a 34 per cent increase) of which 45

have so far been cleared. Violent offences rose 9.1 per cent, with much of the increase in robberies and minor assaults, 21.1 per cent and 10 per cent respectively. Rape offences increased 17 per cent from 284 to with a high clearance rate of 79.8 per cent There was a continuing fall in reported noncannabis drug offences, down 20 per cent from 945 to 762, although cannabis offences rose 0.5 per cent Offences involving dishonesty, which comprise 64 per cent of all reported offences, rose 8.8 per cent from 242,128 to 263,593.

Reported burglary offences rose ,11 per cent to 74,811 and the clearance rate fell from 24 per cent to only 22J8 per cent Car conversions increased 5.5 per cent thefts, 5.7 per cent, and fraud, 25 per cent Much of the increase in fraud was attributed to the continued upsurge in the misuse of credit cards. The clearance rate for dishonesty remained stable about 30 per cent Property damage offences rose 11.9 per cent with most of the increase involving incidents of wilful damage. Clearance stayed at only 3.7 per cent During 1983, children aged less than 17 were responsible for 25 per cent of cleared offences. Offenders aged less than 20 accounted for 57 per cent of cleared offences. Some 83 per cent of offender’s were male. Property valued at $156,791,788 was criminally appropriated during 1983, of which worth was recovered, a recovery rate of 43 per cent Motor-vehicles formed the largest group of stolen goods, with 24,440 vehicles valued at $71,098,00L Oi those stolen, 19,167 (valued at $55,687,606) were recovered, a recovery rate of 78 J per cent Police attended 35,745 burglar alarms, domestic disputes, 5468 sudden deaths, 3883 vehicle collisions, 457 attempted suicides, and other requests by the public for help. Over all, the numbers of incidents other than those of a criminal nature attended by the police increased 5-3 per cent in 1983 compared with 1982.