Safer communities together

New Zealand Police works with the community to make New Zealand safe and secure for its citizens. We seek to prevent crime, improve public security and detect offenders. The unwavering commitment of NZ police officers to provide service to the New Zealand public helps in maintaining the law and order in the country.

As a part of the NZ Police force, we are actively involved with the community to ensure that we address the grievances of the citizens. Below are two incidents that took place last week in Auckland where NZ police officers successfully nabbed the offenders.

Police in action

1.  At about 1:45 a.m. on Monday, August 15, three men drove to a service station in East Tamaki. There was one person working alone in the store. The men smashed the Night Pay window and gained access to the inside of the service station. The victim ran to the rear of the building and closed the door behind him. The men stole cigarettes from the store, exited via the broken window and left in a vehicle. A few minutes later, they swapped their vehicle with another vehicle, which was spotted by the police responding to the incident. A police pursuit was initiated and the offenders eventually dumped the car and left on foot. Subsequent enquiries and searches by Police Dog Unit resulted in one man being located, arrested and charged with aggravated robbery and unlawfully gets into the motor vehicle. Enquiries are ongoing to find other offenders.

2. Just after 10 p.m. on Saturday, August 20, three men entered a liquor store in Papatoetoe. At this time, two people were working inside the store. One of the men pointed a weapon at the victims. The victims rushed to the rear of the store. One of the victims was forced to open the cash register.  Money was stolen from the cash register and cigarettes were stolen from the cabinet. All three offenders left the store with the stolen goods. Police are currently investigating the matter.

Police in community

In an endeavour to improve community engagement and also make it easy and open to members of the community to approach and speak to the police, officers are regularly engaged in attending community events. Police officers recently attended two events and interacted with the community.

•  Attended community event organised by Radio Tarana at Vodafone Events Centre on Saturday, August 20

•  Attended and hosted the international students meeting at Manukau police station attended by 45 key community representatives from across Auckland and 10 government officials including the head of Ministry of Education for Auckland and senior board member for Education NZ. Meeting coordinated by Human Rights Commission.

Prevention tips

It is all about safety in the community and therefore we wish to share some prevention tips regularly with our readers to ensure they are more aware and informed, which directly relates to their safety.

Message by Constable Christiane Pukeiti.

“A lavishly adorned bride, a proud mother and wife, a daughter excited about her engagement—what would all these situations be without beautiful handcrafted gold jewellery? It takes the family years of work and financial discipline to be able to provide for the ladies.

"How terrible then, if a stranger comes into your house and steals the jewellery—your savings, your daughter’s future, your wife’s precious possessions.

"Please, do not put it in your drawers, your wardrobes or on the dresser.

"Take photos of it! Register it on www.snap.org.nz. Get a home safe installed. Mark your property using SelectaDNA, a unique invisible marking system. Check out www.selectadna.co.nz for more info.

"Talk to us, the New Zealand Police. We are here to keep you and your belongings safe, but we do need your help!”

Readers can contact Sergeant Gurpreet Arora on 021 191 0461.