 Otara long had some of the highest crime rates of the country, but recently a major action against the Tribesmen and Killer Beez gangs (in 2008), and 2010s increases in police force numbers in the area, combined with a community policing approach, have been credited with both reducing crime and establishing less hostile attitudes between the locals and the police.Otara has three main high schools, Tangaroa College, Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate and Kia Aroha College

Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate consists of three schools.The Junior School catering for Years 1 – 6; the Middle School, Years 7 and 8; and the Senior School catering for Years 9 – 13.