Prickly Fern

New Zealand crime rates may not look too bad on paper looking from outside, but in New Zealand crime is very much a reality of daily life. The most annoying thing is you can face it in the most unexpected places, especially theft.

Here's a list of most common crime types:

Vandalism

New Zealand youngsters are wild, especially when they are boozed up. They will look for things to break, burn, destroy whenever they feel bored. It could be anything they spot: Shopping trolleys from supermarkets, traffic lights, bus stop shelters, your fence, garage door and garden ornaments, you name it. A more specialized form of vandals are taggers. Tagging is way out of control here in New Zealand. Nobody's property is safe from it. Don't get me wrong, I love graffiti as an art form. I like how they turn a boring wall into something beautiful to look at. But I consider tagging as an ugly selfish act of vandalism that has nothing to do with graffiti. For who don't know what tagging is: A teenager (all the ones I've seen or heard of are teenagers) or a group of teenagers go around armed with spray paint cans write their "signatures" on walls, doors, gates, fences, and windows to seek "fame".
Recently a tagger was killed by an angry home owner during an argument.

Random Violence

I have lived in countries that are well known for violent crimes. Usually these countries have a system of violent crimes. You have to be at the wrong place at the wrong time to face it. Other than that life goes on pretty smooth (depending on your natural temperament of course).
In New Zealand the violence seems to occur anywhere and everywhere. There are so many random brutal beatings and murders that have no known motives or triggers.
The random nature of this could be associated with alcohol and drug abuse (which is BIG in New Zealand) and lack of authority amongst other factors. Although firearm crimes are not big here, brutal nature of the beatings makes up for it.

Theft

You know the place where you can leave your car or house unlocked and be safe? Well it ain't New Zealand.
To explain the extend of theft in New Zealand I'd like to give an example:
I had my Bicycle's brake pads stolen!
Well, I also had my bicycle stolen few months later.
I had my storage locker, and my car broken into too. And all these incidents have taken place in secure garages. Also, place I work for was burglared twice.
I have never in my life had anything stolen from me until I came to New Zealand. I lived in New York City for 10 years and hadn't heard as many incidents of burglaries as I have here in 3 years.
Every time you do a big walk around town you are more than likely to see broken glass on sidewalks from burglared cars. Or even come face to face with the burglar on a busy street in broad day light.
And, someone correct me if I'm wrong, if you come across a burglar in your home, you are not to bash him up. Self defense is not a thing lawmakers believe in here. So you'll have to suck it up.

Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is an epidemic in New Zealand. Haven't experienced it, hence the nature of it being "domestic". But I do know reports has risen 30% since last year!
It must be pretty bad that they passed a law last year to make "spanking" your child illegal.