'The community is a vital partner in preventing crime.”

This was the message at the annual general meeting of Western Bay of Plenty Neighbourhood Support this week.

Tauranga Detective and Police Ten-7 host Rob Lemoto says staying connected '100 per cent works” in stopping crime and ensuring people feel safe in their homes and out and about in the city.

'The less we tolerate and the more we report, the better off we'll be.”

Rob is now working in organised crime targeting gangs and those trying to maintain a living from crime.

Police have recently caught someone bringing in commercial quantities of methamphetamine into the Bay of Plenty, because officers were proactively targeting these people.

Rob says his prime job is identifying people involved in crime, and police often rely on their communities to provide them with information.

He has previously worked in child protection, dealing with specific crimes against children, several which occurred due to neglect, ignorance and drugs.

'We have investigated several incidents of serious crime lately and all these crimes were a build-up from other anti-social behaviour, including driving without seatbelts, doing burnouts, thefts.

'If we had known and taken action regarding these behaviours earlier we may have been able to prevent more crime.”

Rob urges people to take an active interest in their neighbourhood as they were the ones who essentially helped to keep them crime free.

With younger parents now often both working, people are reliant on neighbours to keep an eye out for unusual activity such as unknown cars or strange behaviour in their street.

'What do you do with that information? Do you have the confidence to speak to your Street or Area Coordinator? Sharing this information about what's happening in your area goes a long way to preventing crime.”

He says youth crime had always been around - he had stolen apples himself as a child - but the concerning trend of children out at 3am stealing and committing ram raids means police need to be able to engage with the parents and families of those committing these offences.

Rob grew up in South Auckland and his Tongan father kept the children busy with sport and activities, so he didn't realise he had grown up in a 'rough” neighbourhood until he joined the police and saw the amount of crime that was actually occurring there.

'Realistically the buck stops at home. Being a parent is hard work and we need parents to attend Family Group Conferences if their children get into trouble.

'There is now more help than ever before for parents who are struggling with their kids committing crimes, but parents need to stay connected to their kids, know what they're up to and set boundaries.

'We want our whānau to be able to go out into the community without feeling threatened or intimidated by groups of youth behaving in an anti-social manner or committing crime.”

Rob says police will continue to hold those who commit crime to account for their actions by identifying them and placing them before the relevant judiciary, but ultimately it's the justice system which decided on the punishment.

-Western Bay of Plenty Neighbourhood Support.