sofistek

I tried searching the forums for discussion of crime in NZ but came up mainly blank. For those who've moved from the UK, how does NZ compare with the UK for how safe the country feels? Are there particularly bad areas to avoid?

Crime rates alone don't tell the whole story and comparisons are difficult anyway, though I get the impression that crime and prison population are not much lower in NZ (per head). Any thoughts from those who have migrated or are resident for a prolonged period?

ex kiwi

Avoid all of South Auckland, Avondale, Henderson, Upper & Lower Hutt in Wellington.

Rule of thumb is if the suburb has a high percentage of Maori & Pacific Islanders it will be high in crime.

Try www.stats.govt.nz for last years crime figures.

twinkle

Thanks for that Travelling Kiwi - this is a really useful website.

Twinkle
x

twinkle

oops Ex kiwi.....

sofistek

Thanks for the link and the areas to avoid. But raw statistics don't necessarily give a true picture of how safe a place is, as comparisons with other countries are hampered by different ways of collecting statistics and different ways of punishing crimes. For instance, about a year or two ago, for devery 100,000 people New Zealand had 140 prisoners (including those on remand), whereas England & Wales had 125. That might indicate that New Zealand has more crime than the UK but is this borne out in how safe people feel?

Bernard

I was travelling in NZ some time back (about 8 years ago). Listening to the NZ radio at that time there seemed to be a lot of concern about crime and whilst I was there a British woman tourist was murdered at a 'beauty spot' on the South Island; some NZ MP's were saying that murder rate in NZ is 4x that of UK (measured on a per 100,000 of population basis). Obviously with a small population it is hard to make comparisons though.
When I was there I thought one or two places definitely felt a bit 'dangerous' (parts of Auckland, mainly).