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Speaker 1: And a glimmer of hope on the crime front for

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Speaker 1: our country's best known street, Queen Street and the Auckland CBD.

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Speaker 1: The latest police figures from April to June this year

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Speaker 1: show that theft and burglary and the CBD are down

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Speaker 1: thirty four percent on the same period last year. The

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Speaker 1: council is about to chuck some more money through a

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Speaker 1: targeted rate at safety. Do we believe the stats? Some

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Speaker 1: in the city say they don't. Vivbeck is with Heart

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Speaker 1: of the City Chief Executive. Good morning, good morning, Good

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Speaker 1: to have you on the show. Viv Do you believe

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Speaker 1: these stats? I mean, is that what you see when

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Speaker 1: you walk around the CBD.

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Speaker 2: Oh, we definitely see improvement. I think the big thing

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Speaker 2: is we've been wanting to see a coordinated cross agency approach,

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Speaker 2: not as police but also the social development, health housing

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Speaker 2: and that is the difference. We've actually got that happening now.

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Speaker 2: We've wanted to see it for about three years and

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Speaker 2: the crime is tracking down. I know not everyone will

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Speaker 2: see it yet, but the reality is it has significantly

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Speaker 2: improved and it's really there's some urgency turpos to the

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Speaker 2: work and we're really pleased about that.

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Speaker 1: Some reckon some local landlords reckon that people just aren't

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Speaker 1: even bothering to report the crime, and that's what's behind

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Speaker 1: the decrease.

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Speaker 2: I think there definitely has been that, and I think

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Speaker 2: people did get pretty disillusioned when police didn't come, particularly

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Speaker 2: in the worst of it, through that COVID and post

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Speaker 2: COVID period, and there is likely to be still some

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Speaker 2: of that. We're encouraging people to report at all, whether

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Speaker 2: it's a criminal act or an antisocial or whatever it is,

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Speaker 2: it needs to be reported, so there's clear data about

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Speaker 2: what's happening. But it is significantly improved. I know not

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Speaker 2: everyone is seeing it yet, but certainly what I'm seeing,

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Speaker 2: what I'm hearing from a lot of people has significantly improved.

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Speaker 1: I go to CBD quite a lot. I think you're right,

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Speaker 1: it has improved somewhat. But you still see these people

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Speaker 1: wandering around, you know, in broad daylight, just paying on

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Speaker 1: the street, or being a bit out grow or yelling

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Speaker 1: and shouting. I mean, so if it's where are all

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Speaker 1: these people going?

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Speaker 2: Do you know? That is the social side which really

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Speaker 2: does still need We still need more support, for example,

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Speaker 2: on the mental health. That's one of the things we've

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Speaker 2: really been wanting to see. So the health needs to

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Speaker 2: really come to the party here as well. Although people

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Speaker 2: locally are doing everything they can, there's effort going to

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Speaker 2: housing people. I think there's also a stronger focus on

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Speaker 2: what's acceptable and what's not. You know, COVID was pretty

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Speaker 2: difficult all round.

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Speaker 1: Do you think we just got a bit loose with

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Speaker 1: acceptable behavior? We just thought, know, well, everyone's a bit nuts,

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Speaker 1: let's just put up with it.

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Speaker 2: Well, I don't think it was deliberate, but I think

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Speaker 2: obviously there was more crime, we didn't have enough police,

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Speaker 2: and we've wanted to make sure there were people who

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Speaker 2: were able to engage with people who need different forms

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Speaker 2: of support. So the three things we identified three and

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Speaker 2: a half years ago was around mental health, addiction, better

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Speaker 2: management of housing, as well as the stronger police business.

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Speaker 2: So it's a common of those things that are actually

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Speaker 2: going to really get on top of this. It's not

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Speaker 2: it's still a way to go, but it is significantly better.

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Speaker 2: All right.

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Speaker 1: Thank you very much for that, Vive Beck, Heart of

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Speaker 1: the City in auc.

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Speaker 2: For more from News Talks b listen live on air

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Speaker 2: or online, and keep our shows with you wherever you

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