CRIME STATS NOT FULL STORY: POLICE

Nelson has managed to stay out of the country's top 10 crime areas
but that is no reason for complacency, Tasman police commander
Superintendent Grant O'Fee says.

The crime figures released by National Party justice and corrections
spokesman Simon Power show Christchurch is the country's most violent
city, with 341 violence offences per 10,000 people, and Auckland City
(central) is the country's most crime-ridden area with 3387 total
offences per 10,000 people.

Nelson did not even rank among the country's worst areas for cannabis
offences, with Marlborough now ranking third-highest in the country.
Marlborough recorded 81 cannabis offences per 10,000 people, behind
central Auckland's 152 offences and central Christchurch's 109 offences.

Mr O'Fee, on holiday in Golden Bay, said the figures were good news
for Nelson, but they did not surprise him because of the way they
were measured against the population base.

Mr Power did not have any figures that showed where Nelson ranked,
and while he did not have any views on particular cities tending to
have higher crime than others, it surprised him that Nelson did not
show up in any of the tables.

Nelson MP Nick Smith said today the figures were more of a commentary
on how bad the rest of the country had got, rather than how safe Nelson was.

He also said that because Nelson was a smaller place it was difficult
for "ratbags" to stay here long before being found out.

"I also think the police deserve credit for the way in which the
serious crime unit operates."

However, Dr Smith, who had needed to console his son after his bike
was stolen from their garage three days after Christmas, said it was
important to consider the figures were comparative, and made the
district look good compared with the amount of real crime here.

"We all know the record of domestic violence here," Dr Smith said.

Mr Power said his list of the top 10 crime areas not only confirmed
the ever-worsening violent crime figures, but threw up some
surprising and worrying realities.

The figures showed violent crime across the country rose 4.4 percent
in the 2006-07 year, with grievous assaults up 10 percent, serious
assaults 4.8 percent, and intimidation and threats up 5 percent.

"But much more concerning is the alarming rise in violence and sex crimes."

Mr Power believed use of increasingly sophisticated drugs was a
factor in serious crime increases, but so was the "government inertia
on dealing with gangs".