This urgent issue needs urgent solutions Government!
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/...
I woke up to the latest ram raid news today with a mixture of deep frustration and sadness.
People have asked me often angrily (I don't blame them) "When are YOU going to fix it? What have YOU done?"
If I had a magic wand it would be the first thing I would do. But I have no super power to make change. Crime is complex and will take a whole of community approach to fix. I'm not making excuses. We will play out part. Recently the Police and I spoke with Minister Hipkins for an hour. We asked for support for the prevention work and family support work our community is doing. We discussed repeat youth crime. And I made it clear we needed more Police resources in Hamilton.
When elected it was one of my priorities to make sure Council did it's part. . Council has made progress to playing a positive part in Crime Prevention and I sent that out below.
• In partnership with the Police, I established the Safest City Taskforce to set the priorities and actions for Council’s contribution to creating a safer city alongside our wider communities.
• My efforts ensured that new city projects or redevelopments incorporate Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) principles. This includes the redevelopment of the Transport Centre.•We are working with Police and the University of Waikato to determine the best use of tools such as bollards, cameras, steering locks, and community action, to reduce crime.
- We are developing an online digital platform for crime prevention conversations with our wider community.
- I have strongly lobbied the Government for greater funding for crime prevention action in our city, not just Auckland, and more Police resourcing (equipment and personnel) for Hamilton. This work will continue.
- I wrote to Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) and Minister Tinetti to advocate for much needed resourcing for our fire service in our fast-growing city. This work will continue.
Cnr Bunting have worked closely with our City Safe Leader, the University of Waikato, Waikato Tainui and others. And we have developed a digital platform to talk with community leaders to collaborate.
Like me people feel angry about crime and they feel for the victims. And that is understandable. But as a leader my focus is always on turning frustration to positive action and solutions. 3 days ago I wrote to Minister Hipkins for answers to our requests and will be following up with urgency.
I embrace all ideas which inform my work in the Safe City Taskforce.
I’m committed to playing my part, alongside my Council team in ensuring this is achieved by:
Working with the Police and the wider community to understand their needs
Putting pressure on Central Government to deliver more frontline police for Hamilton
Enabling the use of the right prevention tools, (cameras, bollards, education), in the right place
Ensuring that Crime Prevention through Environmental Design is embedded in city projects.
And any thing else that Council can control. Together we can make progress.
Talk with me.
