I've lived in New York, Vancouver, Sydney, and Auckland. Auckland is in many ways much safer than New York or Sydney and about as safe as Vancouver. There is binge drinking culture here I avoid areas on Friday and Saturday nights that attract the outer suburbans like K Road and most of Queen Street. There is also a fair bit of property crime.
But we don't share a land border with a mammoth country that has more firearms than people. So I feel much safer in NZ. Seriously. But no place is 100% safe.