A more than 900 per cent spike in police call-outs to just five Rotorua emergency housing motels can finally be revealed after the Ombudsman ruled data requested by Stuff a year-and-a-half ago, which the police admitted “paints a very unattractive picture”, should be released. The numbers revealed that across five motels, which Stuff agreed not to name, there were just 46 call-outs over the whole of 2016. That figure rocketed in 2020 to 259 call-outs, spiking again the following year to 491 call-outs. The written ruling also revealed police sought to keep the figures private as “the data paints a very unattractive picture” for the motels involved. Rotorua people now know the extent of the effect dumping homeless people in motels has had on our town.”He also says he's “horrified” at the spike in call-outs revealed by the data.

Source: Stuff August 01, 2023 03:03 UTC