Central city safety improving

Perceptions of safety in the central city have improved according to a range of measures in the Hamilton Central City Safety Plan’s 2016 annual report.

The report, presented at the Hamilton City Council’s Strategy and Policy Committee Meeting today (19 July), details projects completed, facts and figures, plus perception survey results for the second year since the plan was introduced.

The Council's Community Development and Leisure Manager Deanne McManus-Emery is pleased with the positive results which are a result of the collaborative approach.

“We’re seeing positive results throughout all our measures and note there has been an increase in the number of business, employees and people living in the central city,” she says.

“The support from The People’s Project, Hamilton Police and the Hamilton Business Association has been an integral part of the plan’s success.”

Since the start of the safety plan, The People’s Project has helped house 211 people, with 93 per cent of them still in homes.

Provisional Police statistics indicate reported crime in the central city has reduced by 2.5 per cent, on top of last year’s 30 per cent drop.

The scorecard also notes the Council’s Tagbusters team removed almost five and a half rugby fields – 45,701sqm – of graffiti within the city, with 97 per cent removed within two working days during the past year

▶︎ hamilton.govt.nz/safetyplan