On the Beat
Hello again, I am now fully back on deck for 2026. When not on leave, I enjoyed a few shifts policing Raglan township after New Year’s before touching down again in Cambridge. I hope everyone has had a chance to get a good break.
Senior constable Deb Hann inside the police station. Photo: Aaron Radford.
For those who are new to the column, I am the Community Liaison officer for Cambridge Police. I appreciate the opportunity to write this weekly column to share information about crime prevention, local crime trends and good catches by local staff across Waipa, in short, to generally keep you up to date.
My role overall is varied and includes working with local retailers and conducting beat patrols, liaising with agencies (both government and non-government) especially around family harm, educating and addressing different community groups, investigating enquiry files, road policing, event policing and backing up our public safety team staff responding to 111 calls.
In the past seven days, there were 13 reports of burglary and car crime in Te Awamutu and 14 in Cambridge. Included in that latter figure, overnight last Friday, offenders went on a dishonesty spree in Oaklands, Cambridge. As you may have heard, prompt Police attendance resulted in one arrest, and further charges and arrests are likely after forensic examinations are completed.
Six addresses were targeted within a small area, with actions varying from entry into and theft from cars to a garden shed and one house. While such offending is naturally concerning, and ultimately only the offenders are responsible for these crimes, they were opportunistic.
A lack of prevention factors including leaving vehicles unlocked, leaving wallets and other valuables, including house keys inside the vehicles or lack of CCTV in the area have increased the risk of these individuals becoming victims.
That being said however, simple crime prevention tactics of which frequent reminders are made, make it less likely this will happen. As a community, we cannot be complacent. If we can make always removing keys, personal and valuable items from our parked cars a habit, along with securing our vehicles, an offender is not going to find Waipā towns the easy target. Once one thief sees an opportunity here, others will too. Please spread the crime prevention word when talking to friends and family across Waipa.
