NZ police focus on vehicle thefts at Napier

Hawke’s Bay Police are asking for the public to keep sharing information and reporting criminal activity after an increase in vehicles being stolen across Napier in the past few weeks.

These vehicles are then sometimes being used to commit further offences, such as commercial burglaries.

“Police know that this type of offending can leave our community feeling vulnerable,” says Hawke’s Bay Area Commander Lincoln Sycamore.

“We have assigned a dedicated a team of people to identify the perpetrators, with a view to prosecution.

“We’re also trying to understand what drives this offending and how best to intervene and prevent future occurrences of this nature.”

Within the past week Police have arrested a number of youths who have been referred for further action. We have identified a number of young people who we will be following up with.

Police cannot solve this without the help of our community and partners.

Napier City Council is actively supporting our efforts through an increase in CCTV camera coverage and camera monitoring as well as exploring other measures to deter offenders from targeting Napier’s CBD retailers.

Look out for your neighbours and if you see something suspicious and it’s happening NOW, call 111.

If you have information regarding these offences, then call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 and quote Operation Demio.

/NZ Police Public Release. View in full here.