Residents on Auckland's North Shore are growing increasingly worried with reports of suspicious door knocking, but police can't say whether the activity is a growing trend or not.
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Earlier this week an Auckland mother-of-three took to a Facebook community page to warn neighbours after she was woken by knocking on her front door early Tuesday morning.
"4am this morning we had a girl lightly knock three times at our door. She said 'let me in I need some help', she was very clearly not distressed. Normally I would, but I've seen posts where there's a male waiting outside," the woman wrote.
"Be warned, don't let her in."
The woman said she was fearful for her children and called the police immediately.
"Not a nice thing to happen when you have three children in the house."
Police confirmed they were called out to the incident and said they "checked the nearby area for the unknown woman, but were unable to locate her".
Since then, more North Shore residents have also reported similar incidents.
"I had something similar happen to me last night with someone knocking at my door at 1.45am... was pretty freaky," wrote another woman.
Asked if she opened the door, she replied that she had read the earlier post and played it safe.
"I kept all the lights off and didn't open the door... I couldn't see the silhouette, but just that my security light was on outside. I then saw flashing lights at the back of my property towards the house behind mine."
Police confirmed they were called to the earlier incident, but said they were "not immediately aware of any similar incidents in the area."
Police said the woman did the "right thing by calling police".
A police spokesperson said they couldn't comment on whether the suspicious door knocking was a trend or not, but said they "do take reports of this nature seriously and we encourage anyone who at any point feels unsafe or sees anything suspicious to call 111".
Police suggested residents take the following measures to stay safe:
- Don't open the door to strangers. Install a peephole in your door. If you don't know someone, keep the door closed.
- Have a phone by your bed.
- Arrange with a neighbour to phone or visit you if your curtains are still drawn after a certain time in the morning.
- Never tell someone that you are alone in the house.
- Install a wide-angle door viewer so you can see who is at your door.
- Keep your doors and windows secure and close your curtains at night.
- Invest in good-quality, secure locks.
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