Howick Local Board delivering crime prevention

"No one should feel unsafe in their own community and, while crime prevention is a central government responsibility, we’re grateful for the funding and opportunity to target local areas of concern. We’ve prioritised practical initiatives that will help address the challenges facing our residents and business owners.”

The Howick Local Board has allocated its share of the Crime Prevention Safety Initiatives fund to several partner organisations, to address specific safety concerns in the area. 

As part of the $2 million one-off Local Crime Fund made available by the Government announced in 2022, the funding supports and enhances current community-led partnerships that aim to prevent youth crime, as well as town centre and retail crime.

Read more here: https://ourauckland.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/news/2024/07/howick-steps-up-in-the-battle-against-crime/

Community Patrols help make us safer

Volunteering with Community Patrols is a great way to help your local community. I've done it for years and it's practical, rewarding and worthwhile.

They always need more volunteers so please consider joining your local patrol. They provide training, equipment and support to make our communities safer.

In East Auckland we have Howick & Pakuranga Community Patrol and Botany Crime Watch Patrol (which also covers Flat Bush). I'm sure both would love new volunteers, so please reach out to them!

https://cpnz.org.nz/join-cpnz/

Community Patrols NZ conference

In mid-March I spent a weekend in Palmerston North at the Community Patrols New Zealand leadership conference representing Botany.

It was great to learn from the Commissioner about our partnership with NZ Police and make some great connections with volunteers across Aotearoa.

CPNZ is made up of 170 community patrols across the country who volunteer as the eyes and ears of the NZ Police to keep their community safe. We’re always looking for more volunteers!

Thefts from vehicles still on the increase

Last night was a wild and windy night for Botany Crime Watch Patrol. I saw this story in the Times just before we went out to help the police and our community.

“The good news is robberies in the area are down 11 per cent over the past 12 months.

The bad news is thefts from vehicles, particularly those on driveways – known as non-dwelling burglaries, are uncomfortably high.

Counties Manukau East Police’s Area Commander Inspector Wendy Spiller told the Times that while robberies were down significantly across the area and the whole of the Counties Manukau District, thefts from vehicles have been increasing year-on-year.

Alarmingly, nearly 40 per cent of burglaries are from vehicles, many of which are unlocked and parked in residential driveways.”

— https://www.times.co.nz/news/robberies-down-vehicle-thefts-up/

The sad reality is that our community isn't as safe as it should be and we need to take precautions. Unfortunately vehicles are an easy target, especially when parked on the road. If possible make sure you don't leave anything that looks valuable in the vehicle, although I know this isn't always practical (especially for tradies).

We're fortunate to be renting a place with a garage which fits our cars but not everyone has that option. Ensuring the street lights are working will help, although some crimes happen during the day as the criminals get more brazen.

Talk to your neighbours and look out for each other. We make sure our neighbours know when we go away and it's a huge relief knowing someone is keeping an eye on the place.

If you're keen to get more involved, consider volunteering for your local community patrol. It doesn't take much but the more people who help, the more eyes and ears in the community, working alongside the police to prevent crime from happening.

Ending domestic violence will take a community approach

Domestic violence is a terrible scourge on our communities and families. We've all heard the news, seen the statistics but its ruining lives, destroying futures.

David White is one such person - he lost his daughter, murdered by her husband. Instead of retiring, his wife and him have been raising his grandchildren, dealing with the aftermath.

He's committed to visiting every electorate in the country to share his story. It's a big ask, 71 electorates in 71 days with 120 presentations but he's doing it. I heard him speak last night in his Botany stop and it was powerful. He's very open and honest about his experiences, it's raw and personal. His experiences were devastating, inspiring and always real.

Some of what he said was hard to listen to, especially trying to explain to his 9yo granddaughter why her father had killed her mother.

He's been through some terrible times but he's determined to see change. He had some incredible stories about confronting hardened criminals in prison, communities lifting themselves up and how small interventions can help. He talked about hugging a 37 year old prisoner who'd never been hugged in his life and had never hugged his kids. It's no excuse, but the reality is that we need to break the cycle of violence.

We need to proactively tackle domestic violence as a community, not rely on the Police when it's too late. Those communities don't have to be geographical, they can be work, faith or sports communities.

Domestic violence is not okay. 
Asking for help or asking people if they need help is okay. 
Being the help people need is okay.

I strongly encourage you to get along to hear David, before his tour ends

Tarnica Park issues go deeper than just anti-social behaviour

There are serious concerns about safety in Tarnica Park with reports of anti-social behaviour, fighting and even a stabbing not long ago. Check out this Times article for more.

It's very concerning to see these issues happening, especially in my local park. There's a range of things we need to do and locals are asking for the Local Board to install lights. This isn't a silver bullet, but it's a good start and I fully support getting them installed as soon as possible and I'm not alone.

On Saturday we had a public meeting in the park and the solid turnout of local residents despite the pouring rain was encouraging. There were some very concerning stories about issues in the park which has left many residents concerned about allowing their children walk through it in daylight.

I spoke about what the Botany Crime Watch Patrol does in the area to help protect our community. I've spoken to our Operations Manager who's ensured that we have this park noted as needing extra checks.

In my personal opinion there's more work that needs doing, including having the park assessed for safety, known as crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED). This is being arranged for Tarnica Park now, but we need to take a proactive approach to security in our parks and have them all assessed, starting with the parks people visit the most. New parks and redesigns go through this process but we need to assess what we've got already.

Women's safety is everyone's concern

I’m struggling with the Grace Millane story. What happened is awful and wrong, and my heart goes out to her family and friends.

There’s lots of theories and talk about what happened. I understand people trying to come to terms with it, make meaning out of a senseless act. But there are no excuses, drugs, alcohol, clothing, dating/hookup apps, sex, anything the victim did. There are no excuses, it is never okay.

I’ve also heard people seem surprised that it happened here. We need to face facts, our country is not safe for women - New Zealand is considered one of the worst in the developed world in terms of safety for women.

A large part of this because of our appalling domestic violence. An average of 13 women, 10 men, and 9 children are killed each year due to domestic violence. Nearly 40% of our women will be victims of abuse from a close partner. Disabled women are twice as likely to be victims of abuse than women.

One in five women will be victims of sexual assault as an adult and most go unreported. Estimates suggest that 91% of sexual assaults are not reported to the police. Of those that are reported, only 13% result in a conviction.

I don’t want to ruin people’s view of our country but admitting we have a problem is the first step to dealing with it. Especially us men, who more often than not are the perpetrators. Obviously most men don’t commit these awful acts, but some of us are bystanders which enables it to continue. It can be hard, calling our friends, families, neighbors and strangers out but we cannot let this continue.

We have every right be be angry and upset about the appalling actions that ended Grace’s life, let’s direct that passion into doing something about it to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

Call the Police on 111 if you think someone is in danger.

Support the community organisations trying to help those in need.
https://womensrefuge.org.nz/ 
http://www.2shine.org.nz/

Ask others if they’re okay and support them if they need it. http://www.areyouok.org.nz/

Don’t condone or walk past violence, that includes physical, sexual or psychological. https://whiteribbon.org.nz/

Challenge ourselves and those around us to take this issue seriously. Don’t joke about violence or make excuses.

There are candlelight vigils being organised for this week, a good opportunity to come together and share our compassion and solidarity. 
Auckland: https://www.facebook.com/events/1062548473924944/
Howick: https://www.facebook.com/events/1950321131682152/
Wellington: https://www.facebook.com/events/206809043527948/