Looting and burglaries have not seen a "significant increase" in the North Island's flood-stricken Eastern district, Police Commissioner Andrew Coster says.
It comes amid reports of looting in the area.
He said police are aware of concerns around theft, adding that it’s "only natural that offending happening after the cyclone gets extra attention during a state of emergency".
"However, reports of offending are not significantly up on pre-cyclone levels."
There were 11 reports of burglaries across the district in the 24 hours to 8.30am this morning, which is "within the normal range".
Coster said while "no offending is acceptable", "there has not been a significant increase in offending in the district following Cyclone Gabrielle".
However, police have seen an increase in reports of family harm in areas impacted by the cyclone, particularly in the Eastern district.
"Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for instances of family harm to increase when the community is under significant stress," he said.
Coster added, “There are no words to describe the behaviour of people who are using this devastating event as an opportunity to offend against and take advantage of others in their community”.
"Police will continue to respond to reports of offending and work hard to hold offenders to account."
Coster said the public “can be reassured that we have officers out on the streets, across the district, working to keep people and property safe”.
It comes as Coster this evening said an additional 145 police staff are on the ground in the district to help with the cyclone response and to provide reassurance to the local communities.
Further police staff are due to be deployed in the district this week, including iwi and community liaison officers to support reassurance and prevention work, Coster said.
In addition, police have received 6517 reports of people being uncontactable and 4260 reports of people being safe as of 2pm this afternoon.
The death toll currently stands at 11, nine of whom were from the Eastern district. Two others were from Muriwai, in West Auckland. There are 2246 reports still under investigation, police said.
"Police continue to investigate and reconcile these reports as a matter of urgency and can now confirm that all those reported uncontactable in Northland have now been accounted for."
Anyone who has been in touch with someone previously reported as uncontactable is urged to update their status through 105 online.
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