Rotorua is experiencing a marked reduction in crime since implementing a community safety strategy in the inner city, says the city's mayor.

"There’s been a rapid reduction in CBD crime since we actioned our joint community safety plan, and established our community safety hub, which sees Rotorua Lakes Council, Police and others working together to improve community safety," says Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell.

"We made community safety a priority and have been working smarter by joining our limited resources to tackle crime and social issues over the past six months since our Inner City Community Safety Hub was opened."

The mayor says council’s CCTV network has been crucial to this success, helping to ensure those who commit crime are held accountable, and either caught immediately or within a short timeframe of an incident occurring.

The Inner City Community Safety Hub has supported this work between Rotorua Lakes Council, Police, Māori Wardens, community safety volunteers and security operators, providing a shared space for partners to operate from.

Update on community safety efforts on Wednesday, June 12, 2024.

During an update on community safety efforts in the CBD at Wednesday’s Community and District Development Committee meeting, Rotorua Police Area Commander Inspector Herby Ngawhika cited positive progress in the CBD in terms of reported crime since the Hub’s opening.

Compared with the same period the previous year, the period between November 2023 and May 2024 saw significantly less offending in the CBD:

· Violence offences – 26 per cent reduction

· Dishonesty offences – 14  per cent reduction

· Drug and anti-social offences – 24  per cent reduction

· Property damage offences – 37  per cent reduction

· Trespass offences – 39  per cent reduction

"We see this as a great start towards revitalising our inner city and continuing to build confidence for our businesses, community, and our many visitors who are returning," says Tapsell.

"Having an additional Community Constable is also great progress towards achieving our shared goals of increased visibility and responsiveness."

Police Inspector Herby Ngawhika says the reductions in crime highlights the increased focus by Police on visibility in the CBD – including the appointment of a CBD-based Community Constable.

“Over the past six months we’ve had real focus on being visible across the CBD, including an increase in foot patrols during key times," says Inspector Ngawhika.

"Having a dedicated CBD officer has had significant benefits in building relationships with our retailers and partners, as well as giving us a better understanding of the environment, and the ability to deal with issues as they emerge."

He says the constable has also led the deployment of City Guardians and security staff, ensuring they are aware of crime trends and are in the right places.

"We’ve had consistently positive feedback from our retailers around this,” says Inspector Ngawhika.

“We have recently appointed a second CBD-based Community Constable to boost this presence, as well as continuing our all-of-police focus on the city centre."

Inspector Ngawhika says the beauty of the community hub is the fact all of their partners have a place to begin their day, hold briefings, and base themselves when required.

"We’re continuing to hold regular meetings with retailers and the aim over the next few months is to better utilise other partnerships in the CBD with Māori Wardens and Community Patrols.

"This is a great start, but we know there is still work to do and there are still issues within the CBD.

"We encourage people to continue to report issues or concerns, either through 111 if it is happening now or 105 if has already happened. The more information we receive, the better picture we have about crime in our community and how to then respond to it and prevent it in the future," says Inspector Ngawhika.

View Wednesday’s community safety update to the Community and District Development Committee at the following link in the meeting recording: https://youtu.be/Mx46lvzjJ4E?t=442