Northland Police has a new community constable working in the Moerewa and Kawakawa areas as part of a new staff structure to invest more into preventing crime in the Far North.
The new structure has merged the sub areas of the Bay of Islands and Kaikohe into one sub area. This sub area has three new combined Public Safety Teams (frontline staff) working out of Kerikeri and Kaikohe.
This will enable sufficient staff to respond to incidents across the whole Mid North, particularly in emergency situations. Under this structure Police can also put as much resource as possible into prevention activities to reduce the demand on calls for service.
The Moerewa/Kawakawa community constable is a member of the Far North Area Prevention Team based out of Kawakawa. A new sergeant leads this team and another sergeant’s position has been created to lead the Neighbourhood Policing Team based in Kaitaia. Along with sergeants heading the new PST of seven constables each there are two new station sergeants; one based in Kerikeri and the other in Kaikohe. These sergeants are responsible for all Mid North stations (Kerikeri, Kaikohe, Paihia, Kaeo, Rawene, Russell, and Kawakawa).
Staff remain unchanged in the smaller Mid North stations of Russell, Paihia, and Rawene and the remainder of the Far North Area.
Three senior sergeants now oversee frontline staff in the Far North. These include: an Area Response Manager Mid North (new position) who is responsible for the sergeants and PST staff and smaller stations staff in the Mid North; an Area Prevention Manager who is responsible for the Far North Area Prevention Team, and the Kaitaia Neighbourhood Policing Team; and an Area Response Manager for Kaitaia.
Far North Area Commander Inspector Wendy Robilliard says in May last year Police began looking at ways of enhancing the service it delivered to the communities of the Far North, particularly in the Bay of Islands area.
“We wanted to ensure that we had sufficient staff to respond to emergency situations while placing as much resource as possible into prevention activities.
Since Prevention First was implemented nationally in 2011 we have been placing more effort into preventing offenders and victimisation by identifying ways to address situations before we have calls for service. This is a fundamental philosophy behind Prevention First; ‘Prevention at the front of everything we do and victims are at the heart of everything we do.’”
Ms Robilliard says the new structure means Police will have staff in the right places to beat demand and will enable Police to invest more into preventing crime and crashes.
“The structure also releases Senior Sergeants and Sergeants from administrative duties to enable more visible leadership of staff who will be out and about on the streets.”
Ms Robilliard says staff numbers in the Far North the new positions created under the new structure will enhance service delivery to residents, businesses and visitors due to more police officers being freed from administrative tasks allowing them more time on the street.
“We have listened to the concerns of our communities and have devised a structure that will mean our staff will be spread across the area to meet the needs of these communities.”
Ms Robilliard has met with various community organisations and partner agencies to present the new structure.
Attached with this media release is the new structure.
For media inquiries contact Northland Police Communications Manager Sarah Kennett on 09 945 4650 or 021 192 1099.