Constable Sean Drader, intelligence analyst in Queenstown, says ski season property damage caused by tourists is not a "trend that police have noticed".
Tourists were responsible for some of the town's crime but "longer-term residents" were causing more property damage, he said.
Const Drader said there were too many different visa and residency status categories to give a clear picture of visitor crime as the winter ski season came to an end.
He said that compared with other towns in Otago and Southland, Queenstown "had some violence, especially at night" but had "a lot less burglary".
However, burglary figures were "creeping back to the national average", he said.
There had also been a problem with "lax security" around the town contributing to burglary statistics, with burglars coming from out of town to take advantage of unlocked and unsecured properties.
Queenstown also had fewer and less severe incidents of domestic and family violence when compared to the national average.
Family violence was less prone to serious escalation because of its higher visibility, due to the density of people in the town at any given time.
"Reported family violence is more minor because it is often in public people are visiting and staying in a hotel or are in the street when incidents occur.
"In the rest of New Zealand it's often hidden," he said.
Since 2008, the town has also experienced a surge in drink-driving statistics, taking it past the national average a result Const Drader attributes to "proactive policing".
"It's not a problem that's going away," he said.
Tourists were no more likely to commit crime than New Zealand residents and citizens, and tourist crime mirrored the number of tourists who came to the town.
"Volume-wise, if tourism is up, then there's more work for us.
"Overall, the total year-to-date crime is only up 1% or 2% and it's proportional to the amount of people who are in town.
"We deal with a lot of alcohol-related crime, drink-driving, street violence and offensive behaviour.
"It's usually at night and outside bars," Const Drader said.
