Police cordons at Carisbrooke Street in the Christchurch suburb of Aranui on 4 January after a 38-year-old man was found dead. Photo: RNZ / Adam Burns
The seven homicide investigations underway at present represent a changing dynamic for police - though it is not a trend, they say.
Eight homicide investigations were launched in 21 days including a fatal shooting in Lower Hutt, but one of the cases is no longer being investigated as a homicide.
Police director of national criminal investigations Group Detective Superintendent Chris Page said although there were a number of homicide investigations currently taking place "a spike is not a trend, it's only 21 days".
"Our business, while it's moderately predictable, it can be very unpredictable" - Detective Superintendent Chris Page
"We've made some arrests in three other cases and all of the other cases are on track to be progressing towards a resolution. So I think it's important to really understand the context of each case."
Policing could be a very unpredictable business, he said.
"In my own experience as a crime manager, I had three homicides arrive on my desk one afternoon. Now that's unheard of - but no it's not because it's now happened."
The current number of inquiries represented a changing dynamic but police were prepared to deal with it, he said.
"It's made more difficult because actually it's the time of year where we want our people to be taking some time with their families and having a rest and having a break and spend time with those near and dear - so it does place a bit of tension on our resource."
The homicide figures for 2023 have not yet been released, but they look to be well below 2022 when there were 98 homicides provisionally for the year, he said.
"We haven't finished the figures for last year but we're still well short of 98 for the calendar year 2023. So we're well below 2022, we're not far ahead of 2021, 2020 of course was quite low because that's the year of Covid."
The Christmas period was often a busy one for both traffic and other police, he said.
"For decades now we've known that at a time when we take leave, we also have potentially an increased demand for our service or perhaps the same demand on less people."
Police managed by prioritising their work and moving people around the country to support those who needed it, he said.
Staff are given time off where possible but some do have to return from leave to support investigations into serious crimes such as homicides, he said.