With many people planning to head away to the Waitaki lakes district and other popular holiday spots over the festive season, police are advising residents to make sure their homes and vehicles are well secured to deter burglars.
Sergeant Tony Woodbridge, of Oamaru, said police were busy distributing flyers containing information about security and a checklist that can be filled out to assess how secure a property was.
It advised people to ensure all windows and doors were locked; be aware of areas on their property where burglars might be able to hide; avoid advertising they were away through platforms such as social media posts; record the serial numbers of valuable items; and get to know your neighbours or join a neighbourhood watch network.
The checklist asked 30 questions about home security.
Sgt Woodbridge said people needed to take home security seriously at all times, particularly over the Christmas holiday period, when burglars actively targeted vulnerable properties.
''People are going on holiday at the moment and we just want to minimise the opportunities for dishonest people out there because there are a few, so people need to be wary around security.''
Police had also increased foot patrols around Oamaru.
He said a lot of burglaries committed in Oamaru were driven by an offender's need to raise money to fuel drug addiction.
Police launched a similar initiative earlier this year when a spate of burglaries were reported in north Oamaru. They ceased when police stepped up patrols in the area and the burglaries gained media coverage.
Meanwhile, police had also started to see an increase in family harm and mental health-related incidents, which Sgt Woodbridge said were brought on by stress.
''We are seeing the usual rise in people getting stressed out at this time of year and we're getting called out for that. We are called out to more family harm incidents and mental health incidents, so we ask people to take care of themselves and their families at this time of year.''
