Unofficial figures show a 17 percent drop in crime for the Southland region since police began visiting criminals at home for a friendly chat.
Southland police area commander Inspector Barry Taylor told the Southland Times the new approach began in July with police focusing on crime prevention rather than arresting people afterwards.
"We have just had a bit of a look at how we are going about our business and we felt we could do it a bit smarter, and the initial indicators are we are on the right track."
The first five months of the reporting period showed a 17 percent drop for indicative crime figures with burglaries down 28 percent.
Mr Taylor said it was largely a problem solving exercise.
"For example, houses we may regularly visit over the weekend may be visited again during the week to work out why we were called and what interventions can be put in place to prevent us being called the following weekend."
Often the talks resulted in agencies other than police being brought in to give assistance.
NZPA