Constable's blog

Christmas Holidays.

Constable — Wed, 23 Dec 2015 02:55:28 +0000

Merry Christmas

It is what most of us look forward to all year, the festive season and our annual holidays. It's up to each and every one of us to keep the memories of this time of year happy ones.

So if you are going away for the holidays, start by making sure you have done everything possible to protect your home and contents. Make sure all your doors and windows are secure and your neighbours know that you will be away and how long for. Make sure you have not left garden tools lying about for opportunist burglars to use to gain entry to your home. Ask your neighbours to park a car in your driveway, and even hang some of their washing on your line. Invest in a timer which switches a light on for a few hours each night.

If you are driving anywhere, avoid any alcohol what so ever before driving, make sure you are well rested, take regular breaks, and don't be tempted to use your cell phone while driving. Remember the 4km/h tolerance level and wear your seatbelt.

Wishing you all a memorable festive season.

From Constable Glynn Sharp

Crime Trends

Constable — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 02:09:33 +0000

During September and into October, rural Buglaries have been on the rise. Our biggest concern is the number of fire arms being stolen. While all property can be replaced either by insurance or at personal cost, stolen fire arms are most often distributed amongst the criminal fraternity. A single burglary of this type often yields 5-6 firearms. This is the ideal reward for the offenders as there is always ready cash available from the likes of criminal gangs.

I appeal to all gun owners to take extra care securing your fire arms. It may be inconvenient but but the consequences of not doing so could prove dire.

In town, we have had reports of personal property being stolen from parked cars. Unfortunately, in nearly all cases, the cars were left unlocked. Unfortunately the small country town ethics of trust are long gone. We all need to adopt the attitude of "Lock It or Lose It". This applies to our homes as well.

Medallion Pet Foods had 6 large plastic bins stolen from the factory yard, valued at between $300-$400 each. These bins are large and easily identifiable.

Approximately 100 metres of 100x50 mm tannilised timber was stolen from a farm on Farm Rd over the week-end. This timber was in 5 metre lengths and had only been delivered two weeks prior to the theft, so should still be quite wet and new looking. Each board will have "Ruahine Timber" stamped on the end.

I f you know anything about stolen fire arms or have been offered guns for sale, or if you see or hear anything about the stolen bins or timber, contact me on 021 191 3309 or CIMESTOPPERS 0800 555 111 or www.crimestoppers-nz.org. Your information will be treated confidentially.

CHB Crime.

Constable — Sat, 22 Aug 2015 04:05:44 +0000

Over the past month or two, dishonesty offening has been on the increase, in particular, burglary. Offenders have struck in both urban and rural areas, with farmers losing some high value equipment and livestock. Some incidents have been more niusance value that anything else, but that does not alter the fact that some low life has invaded the sanctity of your home or private property.

The community as a whole needs to become more pro-active in protecting their property. CCTV camera systems have become very affordable, and the technology has improved in leaps and bounds. The system can be accessed via a Smart Phone giving you access to your camera system where ever you may be.

Sensor lights and gate alarms have all become very affordable, and while not fool proof, all serve as a deterrant.

Shoplifters have also been busy in the CBD lately. Some business owners have installed well placed camera's in their shops, which have resulted several offenders being identified and prosecuted.

It is a sad realisation, that we have to go to such lengths to protect ourselves and our property from a handful of dishonest, imorral people, but unfortunately they are here to stay, and we need to do it to them before they do it to us.

Keep police informed by calling Crimestoppers 0800 555 111

Rural Burglary

Constable — Sun, 28 Sep 2014 20:56:08 +0000

The Central Rural area is once again becomming the target for thieves and burglars. Over the past 2 weeks three farms have been "hit" by burglars. A farmer in Linsay Rd lost 2 late model Honda ATV's along with three smaller 2 wheel motor cycles, a chain saw , leaf blower and an edge trimmer. These were taken from a shed situated right beside the main house. The burglars took advantage of a stormy windy night which would have masked any noise they made.

A farmer on Maharakeke Rd lost well over 300 lts of petrol from a farm storage tank. The tank was situated inside an implement shed about 400 m from the road. The offenders cut the padlocks on the road gate and on the fuel tank before draining the tank. To make matters worse , they returned about 2 days later to try again, but fortunately the owner had not refilled the tank.

A farmer on Ashley-Clinton Rd lost approximately $800 worth of Calf milk powder which was brazenly removed from a pallet in a farm shed apparently in broad daylight.

We are appealing to farmers to be vigilant and to do their level best to secure high value items.

The Takapau Tennis club and the adjacent bowling club building were broken into last week by juveniles. Although they were not successful in gaining entry to the tennis club, they have caused a lot of damage trying. The bowling club however was a different story, the offenders gained entry through a small toilet window and then embarked on a rampage of distruction, smashing just about every bit of crockery in the club kitchen, and setting off 2 dry powder fire extinguishers inside the building. The premises are no longer used by the club members, but are leased to the LIONS as storage for the books for the annual book sale. There are currently several hundred books in the building, set out on tressel tables, some of which have also been damaged. Two local youths are currently being dealt with in relation to this offending.

On the 24th September, a large trampoline was stolen from a Highgrove Pl property. It is a Hills brand and has a large "X" in the centre of the mat.

Any information relating to criminal offending can be passed on annonymously to CRIMESTOPPERS 0800 555 111

On a different note, with the school holidays underway and warmer weather approaching, please be vigilant on the roads. There will be more children out and about on bikes and on foot.

Lets have a safe start to summer.

"Prevention First". A fresh path now being taken by the New Zealand Police.

Constable — Sat, 06 Sep 2014 22:08:14 +0000

Policing throughout the western world is changing from the heavy punitive action of "Fire Brigade" policing (i.e. responding to crime after it has been committed), to the more preventative approach, where we use historically gathered intelligence to identify social and community issues which may be contributing to the problem. Then, using the assistance of partner organisations such as Safer CHB, Ministry of Social Development, Housing NZ, endeavour to put programs in place to assist these communities to rise above the issues which are dogging them.

Don't get me wrong, we still have zero tolerance toward anti-social behavior, and our courts are still busy every day, but we envisage that, over time, we can get these numbers down thereby making our communities safer places to live.

So far in CHB, we have made good progress on this front, starting with driver mentoring. Our officer's have all expressed frustration over issuing fines to the same unlicenced drivers over and over again. These people are all capable drivers but either can't afford the considerable cost of the test, are not confident of passing thereby having to find the money for a retest, or don't have a road legal car to undertake the test in the first place.

Police along with partner agencies have innitiated a program which asists in getting these drivers to a standard where they are likely to pass their test and become legal on our roads. The spin-offs from this program are considerable, e.g. better qualified for employment, far fewer fines owing therefore more money in the pocket, boost in self-esteem.

We have also been working on one of our residential area's which has obtained a less than desirable reputation. Things are still in the planning stage, but the goal is to help the residents to take ownership of their community and take responsibility for the wellbeing and safety of their community.

Otherwise we have had a reasonably quiet few weeks on the crime front. That is no reason to let your guard down, if you see something suspicious in your neighbourhood, let us know, we will be only too happy to check it out for you. If you are aware of any criminal activity going on, or have any information of interest to us e.g. drug dealing, someone receiving stolen property etc. you can call CRIMESTOPPERS on 0800 555111 or go online www.crimestoppers-nz.org, It's guaranteed confidential.

A Day in the Life of a Copper

Constable — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 02:34:41 +0000

One of the exciting aspects of being a police officer is the fact that we never know what we are going to be faced with before we start work each day.

We may arrive at work for the start of the shift having made plans to deal with some mundane enquiry which has been sitting in your in-tray for some time only find that we have been roped in to an investigation into a serious incident which may have occurred over night. That mundane enquiry goes back to the bottom of the list.

We may be dealing with a list of day to day "Bread and Butter" tasks such as attending to a burglary complaint, stolen motor vehicle or damage to property, when we get sent to a higher priority incident such as a car crash on the highway, an assault in progress, or less frequently, the sudden unexpected death of a person. We never know what is around the corner.

Police Officers are trained to deal with a wide variety of incidents and happenings, but there is always the odd thing that crops up that we have not been trained to deal with, and have to make it up as we go along, such as disputes between unreasonable neighbours. These don't usually involve the breaking of the law, just pigheaded bloody mindedness, but because neither has the solution to the problem, they call the police. We are obliged to attend the dispute just to keep the peace if nothing else, but we always try to get them to a point of compromise. If you have ever wondered why so many male police officers have very short hair, it's to stop them from pulling it out.

Policing is constantly changing and keeping up with new technology. We all carry iPhones and iPads now carry out a lot of our duties and tasks while out on patrol instead of having to return to our desks to complete jobs.

Another big change is the move to "Prevention First" philosophy, which involves frontline police identifying problems and their causes within the community and introducing programs to try to reduce the number of individuals from our community from ending up in criminal court.

You may hear us complain from time to time, but it's still a great job. By Rural Community Constable Glynn Sharp

Community Constable

Constable — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 00:20:26 +0000

Introducing the Rural Community Constable Glynn Sharp.

Glynn will post information of relevance to CHB in this area along with useful information as attachments.
(If you cannot open these pdf files click here for a free download of adobe reader.)

SNAP to reduce burglary
Starting a neighbourhood support group
Signs of teen drug abuse