As a part of the Counties Manukau Police team, I am committed to working on projects aimed at reducing over-representation of Indians as victims in the Papatoetoe area.
Currently 60% of the Papatoetoe population are of Indian origin, including people from India and Fiji.
There is a perception among offenders that Indians are easy targets.
Most of the offenders targeting Indians are usually not from the area. Police have interviewed offenders to find out why they offend, whom they target and how they commit the offences.
They have told us that they target Indians because they believe that this section of the population ‘have nice things.’
“Indians keep to themselves, they do not call the Police to complain, they do not fight back and usually cannot recognise offenders. Properties belonging to Indians can be easily identified and they are usually fairly unsecure,” they say.
Our goal is to make Papatoetoe residents ‘less desirable victims of crime.’ We are visiting Temples, Gurdwaras, Mosques and Churches to spread awareness on safety and how people can help us reduce crime. We also attend public meetings, events and festivals organised in our area. Please invite us to your events. It is good to stay connected.
Complaints please
We advise the members of the community to call the Police if they see anything suspicious; even it appears minor. We want to encourage community awareness and increase public confidence in us.
People can contact us on 111 or anonymously call Crime stoppers on 0800-555111. If you do not speak English, you will be connected to an operator who can converse in English. Our team has people who can speak most languages spoken by New Zealanders.
You can also report in person at a police station nearest to you.
As well as noticing any suspicious activity in your neighbourhood, we encourage you to inform us of persons you do not know or recognise on foot or in a vehicle in or near your property of that of your neighbour.
Reporting process
When you visit or call the Police, please be prepared to say what is happening and where it is happening. Give your name, address and telephone number, so that we can contact you if there is a need for further information.
If you are calling us over the phone, please stay on the line, be calm, keep watching and do not hang up. Do not approach anyone who you think may be a criminal. You could put yourself and others in danger.
If a burglary, an offence or a crime has occurred, do not touch anything since you could be spoiling the evidence. Please write down what you see, use the following checklist of things to do and inform the Police.
For suspicious vehicles: Write down the Registration Number of the vehicle, colour, make or model, direction of its movement, distinguishing features if any. These could include damages, loud exhaust, signs and so on.
For suspicious persons: Please note their gender, hair colour, race if possible, approximate age, skin colour or complexion, height, body type (fat, slim, muscular), clothes and footwear and special behaviour (intoxicated, limp, using threatening language, shouting and yelling) .
I hope to share many more issues with your through Indian Newslink.
Constable Satvir Sen is a part of the Community Policing Team at Counties Manukau Police, covering Otahuhu, Papatoetoe and Mangere. An Engineering graduate in Electronics and Computers from AUT University, he joined the New Zealand Police in 2009 and graduated from the Royal New Zealand Police Academy in February 2010.
This Fiji-born young man has a penchant for community safety. He hopes to raise awareness on safety issues among the people of his policing area.
