South Canterbury criminals could soon have their faces plastered over the internet on a nationwide ''wanted'' website.

Police in Wellington and Eastern Districts are the first to post to the new site, which has gone live today.

National Crime Manager, Detective Superintendent Rod Drew said the other police districts would have access in about eight weeks.

Individuals feature on the site either because they are wanted to arrest or need to be identified in relation to a crime, for example as a suspect or witness, he said.

Currently, 31 people in the Wellington and Eastern districts were posted on the site.

The site was an additional tool for police to help track down offenders.

''It's going to give us a much broader audience of people with potential information about those we're looking for. We will still be using local media and Police Ten 7 to help us track down people, but offenders can move about pretty quickly, so having a national site gives us extra eyes out there,'' Drew said.

''NZ Police has a high level of support from the public, which we are grateful for. This is another way for people to help us get offenders off the street.''

The site had two sections, one for people who were wanted to arrest on criminal charges and another for people who police wanted to identify.

''The wanted to identify postings are people who police are interested in speaking with in connection to a crime or incident.

These people may have been caught on CCTV cameras and we will post a still shot of the footage on the site.''

Not all people who were wanted by police would appear on the site. An image would only be posted if there were reasons of urgency, or the person cannot reasonably be located by other means.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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