Senior Sergeant Allan Grindell said the recent discovery of a vacant holiday home being used by a group of people had again highlighted an issue of intruders gaining access to Wanaka households for extended periods.
Reports of vacant houses being used by intruders escalated around holiday periods, as homeowners visited their Wanaka residences and found them interfered with, Snr Sgt Grindell said.
"It is an issue for a town like Wanaka, which has so many holiday homes," he said.
A Wanaka holiday accommodation provider had discovered a Hunter Cres house had been lived in by a group of people.
It appeared the intruders had been living on the property for about two weeks and there was no forced entry, Snr Sgt Grindell said.
Wanaka security contractor Kim Gwilliam said he estimated about half of Wanaka's holiday homes had monitored alarm systems.
Vacant holiday homes without security were the easiest targets for squatters, because there was no deterrent to stop them from gaining easy access, he said.
He had never been alerted to a holiday property used by squatters, at which the intruders had gained access by forced entry, Mr Gwilliam said.
"They usually seem to have used a key, or at least known where a spare key was kept," he said.
Aspiring Locksmiths Ltd owner Colin Armstrong said he was often called by holiday home owners to change locks once their properties had been entered.
He had also noted instances where owners of holiday homes had found their properties to have been entered by someone using a key.
"I can't say I've ever seen a lot of forced entry,"Alongside his locksmith company Mr Armstrong has established Wanaka Protected Services, an operation which employs licensed security guards to visit vacant homes on a weekly or monthly basis.
He believed many holiday homes were often targeted by ex-tenants, or people such as friends or associates of the residence owners, who either had, or knew of where keys to the property were kept, Mr Armstrong said.
He agreed with calls from Wanaka police for neighbours to be more mindful of what was happening next door.
"People will be suspicious of something happening next door, but they won't do anything about it or let someone know," Mr Armstrong said.
The police had no facts to go on which indicated squatters targeting vacant homes, fitted a certain profile, Snr Sgt Grindell said.
"We haven't caught anyone in a house to identify who these people are," he said.
Alcohol, CDs, firewood, and power usage, were the main household items targeted by intruders when Wanaka police had investigated, he said.
Intruders accessing vacant houses could be charged with two possible offences; being unlawfully on a premises, or burglary which includes a very wide statutory scope of intent and covers any breaking and entering of a property, Snr Sgt Grindell said.
