Hawke's Bay Crime Intelligence Report

NAPIER CBD: THE HARDEST PLACE
TO RUN A SHOP IN HAWKE'S BAY

Coverage: Napier Central · Hastings Central · Havelock North · Taradale

Period: 12 months to October 2025

Source: NZ Police Recorded Crime Victims Statistics

Aggregated by: policedata.nz / crimestats.co.nz

01 — Geographic Scale · Theft Intensity by CBD Location
Theft Hotspot Map — Hawke's Bay CBDs
Circle area is proportional to annual theft incidents per business. Positioned at approximate geographic location of each CBD.
Napier Central — 7.4 thefts/biz
Hastings Central — 5.7 thefts/biz
Havelock North — 0.09 thefts/biz
N PACIFIC COAST → NAPIER CENTRAL 7.4 THEFTS / BUSINESS ~3,330 incidents · 450 businesses HASTINGS CENTRAL 5.7 THEFTS / BUSINESS ~2,740 incidents · 480 businesses TARADALE 0.14 thefts/biz ~28 incidents · 200 businesses HAVELOCK NORTH 0.09 thefts/biz ~34 incidents · 350 businesses KEY COMPARISON 82× MORE THEFT Napier CBD vs Havelock North per business per year DATA: 12 MONTHS TO OCT 2025 · NZ POLICE RCVS
⚠ Circle area is proportional to theft incidents per business annually. Napier and Hastings circles accurately represent scale relative to Havelock North — the difference is real, not a display error.
02 — Thefts per CBD Business · Annual
Napier
Nelson Park / Napier Central
7.4
Theft incidents per business / year
~3,330
Annual theft incidents
450
CBD businesses
84.6%
Crime that is theft
#1
Worst suburb in Hawke's Bay
▼ Falling (3-month trend)
Hastings
Hastings Central CBD
5.7
Theft incidents per business / year
~2,740
Annual theft incidents
480
CBD businesses
~75%
Crime that is theft
#2
Rank in Hawke's Bay
→ Flat (3-month trend)
Havelock North
The Village Centre
0.09
Theft incidents per business / year
~34
Annual theft incidents
350
CBD businesses
62.2%
Crime that is theft
#28
Rank in Hawke's Bay (safer)
▼▼ Falling fast −55.6%
Taradale
Gloucester St Village Centre
0.14
Theft incidents per business / year
~28
Annual theft incidents
200
Village businesses
76.1%
Crime that is theft
#46
Rank in Hawke's Bay
▼ Decreasing trend
03 — Visual Comparison · Thefts per Business
Annual Theft Incidents Per CBD Business
Napier and Hastings share ~450–480 businesses each. Havelock North ~350, Taradale ~200. All comparable suburban/CBD scale.
Napier Central
7.4 thefts / business
53× Taradale
Hastings Central
5.7 thefts / business
41× Taradale
Taradale
0.14 — near-baseline
Havelock North
0.09 — baseline
NZ National Avg
209.4 per 1,000 (all crime)
04 — What Makes Up Crime in Each CBD
Napier Central
Theft
84.6%
Assault
7.7%
Burglary
6.3%
Sexual Offences
0.7%
Robbery
0.7%
KEY INSIGHT
Napier is overwhelmingly a retail theft problem — likely shoplifting-driven.
Hastings Central
Theft
~75%
Assault
~12%
Burglary
~10%
Sexual Offences
~1%
Robbery
~2%
KEY INSIGHT
Hastings has a dual problem — high theft and the region's highest assault rate. Safety perception risk is higher.
Havelock North
Theft
62.2%
Burglary
17.5%
Assault
12.6%
Sexual Offences
4.9%
Robbery
2.8%
KEY INSIGHT
Higher burglary share (17.5%) suggests more opportunistic property crime than retail theft. Falling fast.
Taradale
Theft
76.1%
Assault
11.9%
Burglary
11.9%
Sexual Offences
<1%
Robbery
<1%
KEY INSIGHT
Low volume, mixed profile — theft and burglary share almost equally. Suburban character with no violent crime spike. Rank #46 in region.
05 — Headline Facts
82×
Napier CBD has 82 times more theft per business than Havelock North — despite having only 29% more businesses.
2×+
Napier has more than twice as many retail thefts as Nelson city — which has a similar population. (NZ Herald / NZ Police data)
#1
Napier Central ranks worst of all 94 suburbs in Hawke's Bay. Hastings is #2. Taradale is #46. Havelock North is #28.
55.6%
Havelock North's crime has dropped 55.6% in 3 months — the strongest improvement trend in the region.
480
Hastings CBD has more burglaries than Wellington — a city with more than twice Hastings' total population.
Fri–Sun
Assaults in both Napier and Hastings CBDs peak Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons — not just late nights. (NZ Herald / NZ Police)
Methodology & Data Sources
Crime rates sourced from crimestats.co.nz and safesuburbs.co.nz, which aggregate official NZ Police monthly data releases from policedata.nz (Recorded Crime Victims Statistics, RCVS). Data period: 12 months to October 2025. Area units: Napier Central (meshblock 214300), Hastings Central (210500), Havelock North-Central (211600), Taradale Central (213700).

Thefts per business estimates are derived by applying the published theft percentage to total incident counts implied by per-1,000 rates, divided by CBD business membership counts. Napier: ~450 businesses (Napier City Business Inc.); Hastings: 480+ businesses (Hastings City Business Association); Havelock North: ~350 businesses (Havelock North Business Association); Taradale: ~200 businesses (Taradale Business Association).

Important caveat: Per-1,000-resident rates are inflated in CBDs due to very small resident populations relative to daytime visitor/worker footfall. The "thefts per business" metric is a more operationally meaningful comparator for business associations. For exact incident counts, download the raw monthly CSV from policedata.nz Victimisations report, filter by Eastern District > Hawke's Bay > area unit > Theft offence category.