Wanted Bay of Plenty criminals will now be listed online after the launch of a new police website featuring wanted offenders from throughout the country.

Police in Wellington and Eastern Districts are the first to post to the new site, which went live today at http://www.police.govt.nz/wanteds

Police can now list people they are looking for online.

National crime manager Detective Superintendent Rod Drew says the site is an additional tool for police to help track down offenders.

'It's going to give us a much broader audience of people with potential information about those we're looking for.
'We will still be using local media and Police Ten 7 to help us track down people, but offenders can move about pretty quickly, so having a national site gives us extra eyes out there.”

Rod says NZ Police receive a high level of support from the public, which he is grateful for.

'This is another way for people to help us get offenders off the street.”

The site has two sections, one for people who are wanted for arrest on criminal charges and another for people who police want to identify.

'The wanted to identify postings are people who police are interested in speaking with in connection to a crime or incident.

'These people may have been caught on CCTV cameras and we will post a still-shot of the footage on the site.”

Rod says not all people who are wanted by police will appear on the site.
An image will only be posted if there are reasons of urgency, or the person cannot reasonably be located by other means.

'If someone has information about a person on the site, or their activities, we're asking them to contact police on 111 or their local police.”

Alternatively, people can leave information anonymously via the Crimestoppers 0800 555 111 line.