Ditto the above again!!
We have left the car unlocked both during the day and at night and it is easy to get out of the habit of locking it!
I am a nurse too and often leave work at 11.00pm, driving home was strange at first as there are hardly any other cars on the road but we do feel safer here, my children go into town on their own and happily get the local bus alone, something they didnt really like doing in the UK.
Agree with other posts though, I think it depends on where you live.

I feel much safer than I did back in sleepy little Exmouth in Devon on a Friday or Sat night with all the smack heads hanging around the streets and fighting between drunken youths that went on there all the time. We were burgled back there but feel great here. Driving can be a bit of a nightmare with some hoons and stupid drivers around but on the whole much safer here I feel.

would be happy to send you a copy of the North Shore Times, judge for yourself. Bearing in mind we are just 5 mins from the CBD on a ferry the biggest story has been about a 21st Bday party that got shut down by noise control at 8:30 at night because it was too loud. Even though neighbours had been informed parents were there, Security on etc.

Quite a scandal

So to answer the question we feel very safe here and much safer than in Berkshire. We let our 16 year old come and go whenever he pleases at the weekend and during holidays. We let the little children go to the park and beach by themsleves.

However I do wonder if it's just because we can't see the dangers and risks having not been here long enough. A mates van was broken into 2 weeks ago and all his tools were stolen. In the same area a US couple had their v. expensive mountain bikes stolen from the back of their van. In the city there are reports of muggings, and robberies....not too often but then it's a smaller place. So there is crime.

As for graffitii, you do see a bit of tagging but it's very quickly painted over. Studies have shown that one of the most effective ways to deal with tagging is to get rid of the marks asap, as this takes away the taggers reason for doing it...i.e. to make their mark either to show power or ownership. There is very little vandalism (i.e breaking stuff)

I have no worries about being out late at night.
I have two teenage boys and have no worries about them being out late at night either.
I know of one person who has had their car broken into while it was on their driveway
but that was part of a string of incidents that happend on one night by two people working together.
We are in a medium sized town but i have had no concerns for safety when we have
visited Auckland and Wellington and have been out in the city centres at night.

As mentioned driving is different but thats down to lack of education when learning
and the subsequent bad habits picked up because of that.

SNAP!

A couple of petty thefts living in Wellington (lived too near Porirua projects I think, they should fence it off from the nice middle class 4x4 driving yuppies in Whitby). Location, location, location...as with any city.

Not much since then really, my tin foil hat offers me protection .

Ah, yes.....memories!

We have an 11yr old lad and an 8 yr old girl. Although we don't let our daughter out too far from view, our son has all the freedom I had at his age, 30 odd years ago. He makes his own way to school and back home at night and some days goes round to a mates and off to football practice till 6 at night. We don't worry because it is safe and he is street wise. (He grew up in Mansfield!)

So yes, NZ is safe (in the right area). Remember your childhood (if you're of a certain age!) and that's what NZ is like.....

Good way of summing it up Sirplug....as with a lot of things in NZ...in a good way that is!

I'm sure it depends on where you live but I 'feel' safe in NZ- have done in all the places we've lived here. We have been the victim of crime twice though, but it was petty stuff and probably our fault. I love the peace and quiet at night- that helps me to feel safe

I went downstairs this afternoon to the flat door which was wide open. Nothing had been taken and God knows how long it had been like that. The Mountain bike, two skateboards, fishing rods etc were all still there even though in full view

You wouldnt get that in Doncaster

as I said before, I often go out at 10 or 11 pm on my own to go to NW or for a drink and 've never felt unsafe or threatened. I am a small/vunerable asian woman. but I wouldn't do this if I live anywhere else in the world / or Auckland. No way. Now I've got a good cop friend so I can call him at any time.......... According to him, he doesn't want be a cop if he lived in USA/NY /UK/Irealnd AND AUCKLAND. Only Welly is ok.....................

I won't say Auckland is "that safe".(especially city and Takapuna area) I don't think so. When I stayed in auckland for a holiday at my parents house when everyone was away except me - I felt (sort of) uneasy because three times someone turned up (with a car) and bang the door (they are not supposed to, coz its our drive way) without any app or letting us know why they had to visit us. so I felt quite unsafe at that time and scared in a way. and they are very rude. If they kill me... god knows... .What I can do about it? neighbours too far. but here, luckily at least people don't hold guns. (but nives?? ) Whereas in USA, - while my uncle was studyng in Arizona, he got attacked two times at night, of course.. they did hold guns... He went to the US coz he got a full scholarship, otherwise no. I don't bother moving to the US.

while we living in Japan, our apartments got burgled three times. two times in a row, and then one more. (I was almost going to faint....) My mum lost her wedding jewellery watches etc. and some of my cashes. pretty bad experiences.

however nothing has happend here in nz yet.

As a Prison Officer in Otago i see the worst of them, but TBH the crims here are not on a level with crims from UK or OZ, we have gang members and even they seem to be a softer breed than those of the North Island variety, we had some tranfer down to our jail last year from Hawkes Bay, and our gang members went on Segregation because they didnt want to mix with their own kind from ooop north, as the ones from ooop north were way harder.

We lived in Dunedin for over 4 years and our daughter and nates who were 8 at the time played in each others back yards, front yards and ran about in the streetfronts, went to the corner shop together and at around 11 took the bus to town with her mates, there is crime here, but on a very small scale and its a Police state, if someone breaks into a house down here, the Cops usually know who it is and then I end up with them, when i had my own business doing property repairs,i would say that 75% of the houses i went to work in left their doors unlocked and i could come and go as i pleased, even the real posh ones left their doors unlocked, peoples perseption was that as they only had wooden windows with 3-4mm glass and hardly any security locks, it was easier to leave the door open as there would be less damage lol,

THe Cannibas scene is far more in your face than it was in UK, people of all ages seem to readily smoke the stuff over here, and the ammount of crims we get have some kind of drug habit and that i believe leads to the ammount of cars broken into and the small ammount of burglaries that take place, lots of people leave their cars unlocked and keys in the ignition, i have never felt threatend by anyone in Dunedin or Otago or felt unsafe walking the town at night, when we went to Auckland for a few days, OK it was like OMG look at all these people, but again we didnt feel unsafe at all.

We came from Poole Dorset and even out on the town there i didnt feel safe and the crime rate was way more higher than NZ, we now live in the countryside outside of the city and both work for the Prison service, so coming home to the country is bliss.

Nige over 5 years in Otago

We've been the victim of crime twice, (burgled) once in the North shore & once in Hawkes Bay. Never happened in the UK, so it was a bit of a shock to us!!
We also witnessed a gang fight in Takapuna ending in someone being thrown though a glass bus shelter.
Having said that we do feel pretty safe.

This for me is a different story entirely... i wish the stuff was legal and that it was Alcohol and tobacco that were the banned substances, not from a personal stance but in all honesty I've never been set upon by a gang of stoners as from what I can make out they're all too chilled to be bothered but whenever I've seen any bother 9 times out of 10 theres drink involved.. different thread maybe eh and perhaps not necessarily on an expats forum either