Tamahere Community Committee hosted a “positive and constructive meeting” involving community leaders last week to discuss mail theft.
Tim van de Molen
Waikato MP Tim van de Molen as well as representatives from NZ Police, NZ Post and Waikato District Council, including mayor Jacqui Church and Tamahere-Woodlands Ward councillor Crystal Beavis attended.
“Mail theft is a serious concern to many in the community,” committee chair Charles Fletcher said.
“In Matangi-Tamahere it was rife until the police caught the offender in November 2024.
Crystal Beavis
Social media sites covering those area have paid close attention to the issue and it is not unusual to see posts of people and vehicles with suggestions they may be up to no good.
A change in the delivery system in the RD3 area has also been blamed for empowering mail thieves who have spotted the delivery times are not fixed.
“NZ Post was also at the meeting and has taken away comments made with a view to doing something constructive with its staff to assist in prevention,” Fletcher said.
Hamilton City Area Commander Inspector Andrea McBeth said letterbox theft, tampering with letterboxes or suspicious activity around letterboxes is an issue for the wider Hamilton city area and is not specifically targeted in Tamahere and Matangi areas.
Delivering the mail. Photo: Ethan Wilkinson, pexels.com
“Letter box theft has had a significantly negative impact in residents trust and confidence and of feeling safe in their community,” McBeth said.
“Reporting indicates that letter box theft in Matangi and Tamahere peaked in October and November 2024. Through police arrests, letter box thefts in the area have decreased significantly.
“It is highly likely that the police data does not reflect the true amount of offending due to under reporting to the police and resident reporting events on social media community pages rather than to the police.
“Therefore, it is currently unknown what the true scale of letterbox theft is in Matangi and Tamahere.”
Advice was given to secure letterboxes with padlocks or other security measures and to get expensive items delivered to a PO box or NZ Post offices.
Beavis said the meeting was a useful reminder that the most effective means of combating mail theft is to report anything suspicious to the police.
Police often note in their weekly On the Beat columns in The News that it is frustrating when people report suspicious behaviour on social media – but don’t call police.
“Inspector Andrea McBeth was able to download 13 pages of Facebook posts related to mail theft in Tamahere and Matangi, but she noted there had been only 46 official reports to the police during that same time period over the past 18 months,” Beavis said.
“Other useful advice included setting up neighbourhood watch groups, alerting the Hamilton East-Tamahere-Matangi Community Patrol, which works closely with the police and has a social media presence, and handing in dumped stolen mail to police for fingerprinting.”
Residents recommended checking letterboxes in the morning and evening, as several people noted that rural delivery was not always at the same time each day.
Beavis said the Waikato District Council plans to install CCTV cameras in the Tamahere village area within the next few months and will keep the Tamahere Community Committee updated on progress.
McBeth said community groups such as Facebook pages should be encouraged to not just report suspicious activity on their pages, but also to the police to help track trends.
People were encouraged to join Neighbourhood Support or the Matangi/Tamahere Community Patrol.
“While mail theft is frustrating, vigilantism or taking the law into their own hands is not encouraged,” McBeth said.
“Report suspicious behaviour and all crime to police, 111 if crime is happening at the time, 105 otherwise.
“Even if the police do not attend at the time, reports are reviewed by our intelligence officers where crime trends are identified, and evidence can be linked to other offences/offending.
“This is very valuable for the police and enables them to understand the full crime picture.”
Delivering the mail. Photo: SL Wong, pexels.com
