Morrinsville Woman stands up to local crime

Maria Cronin was shocked when police could not show up to a crime in progress, however she couldn’t sit back when she saw a burglar entering her neighbour’s property. 

Tuesday 4th of June was bitterly cold when Maria Cronin woke up to a bang. As she yanked on her dressing gown, she reluctantly went outside to find out what the commotion was. 

The house next to hers had all its lights turned on. Normal one would think for a neighbour, just staying up late. However, inside the house was a black hooded figure, not Cronin’s elderly neighbour. She had passed away one month ago. 

In her late neighbour’s house was an intruder. 

Straight away Cronin dialled 111, and “They said they would come out soon,” but were occupied with something more urgent. Cronin shaken and restless, went back to bed but struggled to fall asleep. 

In the morning, she checked her neighbour’s property only to find items from the garden shed missing. “A ride on mower was gone, the entry gate was trampled, and garden tools were missing. The shed was completely cleared. The doors to the house were also open,” said Cronin. 

When the police spoke with Cronin, they said there was not a lot to be done as the house was in the hands of the Public Trust. 

That evening, Cronin decided to wait in her car in case the culprit returned however she ended up falling asleep. The next day, Thursday 6th, the Public Trust visited the house and put a hook and two chairs in front of the doorway to disable the entrance way. 

But at 10:30pm, Cronin, and her neighbours gathered in the driveway to witness it happening for a third time. Another call to the police. 

Cronin felt she should do something, so she gathered up her courage and went to the front door of her late neighbour’s house “What the f**k do you think you are doing in there!” 

Suddenly, a young man ran out, his black hood covering his face, his neck bowed down. “Sorry, so sorry miss!!” he said as he fled the scene.

Cronin was astounded by the response; she updated the police, but they were still going to be at least another 45 minutes. By this point more neighbours wandered out of their homes, curious to find out what was going on.

The burglar fled leaving his car with a trailer attached, and complete with an aggressive cross-breed Ball Mastiff in the front seat. Cronin noted the registration plate of the car however the trailer had none. Cronin and her neighbours tried to get some identification papers from the car but the dog wasn’t having any of that and defended the vehicle with a lot of noise and vigour. After doing all that she could do, Cronin went to bed. 30 minutes later she heard the car and trailer drive off. 

While in this case Cronin was at the forefront of stopping her late neighbour’s house from being robbed – not everyone can confront crime in progress. In fact, police’s advice is to call 111 if you see a crime happening, do not interfere, keep calm and take note of what is happening, recording details such as the registration plates, make and model of the car and description of any offender/s.

While police are stretched to cover local crime, there is a citizen organisation which aims to support the public. The Morrinsville Community Patrol was established in 2010 after members of the public met with police, concerned about the escalation of crime in the Morrinsville district.

Kevin Westbury has been the president of the organisation since 2018, and said the role of the patrol is to act as “the eyes and ears of the police”.

The patrol has 18 volunteers currently and a typical night shift starts by communicating with police giving the names of patrollers and shift times. Over the course of the night, police are provided with vehicle descriptions, registration numbers, contact information of any suspicious vehicles and patrollers notify police via radio of any incidents or concerns. Every hour the local district command centre has a dedicated person that rings to check in on patrollers, and police can also task the patrol to assist with warnings of road hazards etc.

“Our patrols move randomly through the town and surrounding areas to spot anything unusual. It is surprising how often you end up being in the right place at the right time” said Westbury. 

The most common types of crime noticed by Westbury and patrol have been vehicles stolen or interfered with and items from inside the vehicles stolen. The Morrinsville Community Facebook page is often a good source of information as well. 

Westbury said that patterns of crime have changed among years in Morrinsville. 

“Ram raids were never a thing but are common now. Vehicle availability is easier with so many parked on the sides of the road and not locked in garages. People forget to lock their vehicle or leave enticing valuables in view. “ 

Some of the situations the patrol has helped with have been drunk drivers reported and arrested, locating lost people, such as children or people with dementia and securing loose stock away from roads.

Patrol members can also put traffic diversions in place to help police, and observe and report on behaviour like street brawls. The patrol is able to provide intelligence about the events live most of the time, which helps the police management coordinate resources accordingly. 

The work of the patrol has saved Morrinsville from many dangers, but volunteers are also faced with challenges. 

Westbury said “they face verbal abuse from members of the public. They also struggle with tiredness and fatigue. A lot of volunteers have full time jobs/businesses and shift work to cope with. Nobody likes to be going out on cold wet nights, and they feel like they are unappreciated”.

Ideally, a total of 50 volunteers would benefit the patrol and help lift the weight for current volunteers. This would mean the patrol car would be utilised every night of the week, and each volunteer would do one night every four weeks out of their personal time.

Westbury’s advice to the community is that the best way to keep families and homes safe is to look out for each other. If you notice any unusual activity, report it straight away. Most criminals do not like to be seen, so have lighting with good motion sensors as well as cameras. Another measure is to keep valuables out of sight. 

Cronin said she was surprised and upset from the lack of response from the police when it came to helping her deceased neighbour’s property. 

Currently police are facing a few challenges. One of them is the lack of police officers. The government promised another 500 police officers early in the election but as of February 2025 there were actually fewer police officers since then. Chris Cahill, Police Association president said the numbers are “pretty disappointing” at the time. 

However associate police minister Casey Costello said police were doing a huge amount of work to drive recruitment and remained confident of the increase in overall numbers soon. 

Another issue is the stretched funding. Following the release of the 2025 budget last month, the government announced 480 million in funding would go towards police. Chris Cahill said the devil would be in the details as to where the funds will be focused. “It takes a lot to run a police force, and they sound some big numbers, but most of it will just be absorbed into the increased costs driven by inflation”. 

Crime is also increasing in the Matamata – Piako district area. Stats posted on the New Zealand Polices website shows that the level of crime has increased since May 2024. In May 2024 the total number of reported crimes were 1392, since April 2025 there have been 2067. This shows reported crimes have increased by 137. 

Just last week a fight broke out north of Morrinsville and the police were called to Tahuna- Ohinewai road. At 7:20pm, a group of three men in a vehicle were confronted for doing burnouts. The person that confronted them was assaulted. Other members from the public also tried to intervene. A resident from a nearby property was also assaulted after trying to intervene. A total of 6 people were injured during the incident, two people suffered major injuries and were treated at Waikato hospital, while the other four were minor. 

Detective Sergeant Ben Norman told Television news that “An investigation into the serious assault and aggravated robbery has commenced, with police working to establish what exactly has occurred,” Norman said anyone with information was asked to call 105. 

With the lack of police in the area and a number of major emergencies, it’s no wonder the police couldn’t assist with minor crimes such as the burglary of Cronin’s neighbour’s home. 

The morning after Cronin’s chaotic week of chasing crime, she checked on her neighbour’s house. There were no new break ins since she had approached the attempted robber. She and her neighbours shared their relief together. Sunday she told me, called for a much needed “sleep in”.

At the time of writing this story, Morrinsville’s police station were unavailable for comment despite a number of requests.