Canterbury Police District has confirmed it will move to a two-Area structure following a District Review.
As indicated in a draft proposal released in May, the new structure will see the current four policing Areas replaced with two Areas - Christchurch Metro and Canterbury Rural.
The Christchurch Metro Area will encompass the entire Christchurch city, which is currently split across three different policing areas. It will also take in the North Canterbury and Selwyn Sub-Areas.
The Canterbury Rural Area will largely encompass the existing Mid-South Canterbury Area and functions.
The new structure retains all existing Police stations, and existing staff numbers are maintained.
Overall the District operations are realigned into four new functional areas: Investigation, Response, Prevention and Support, each led by an Inspector or Detective Inspector.
Criminal investigation teams will remain Area-based, as they are under the existing structure.
Other changes involve the realignment of workgroups and roles across different functional groups.
District Commander Superintendent Gary Knowles says the new structure is primarily about reorganising the district's existing resources into new functional areas.
"What we are doing is reorganising the high-level structure in a new way that fits with our prevention focus, and fits with the new post-earthquake environment.
"The move to a single Area to cover Christchurch city makes a lot of sense in the current environment," says Superintendent Knowles. "This move was well supported by a number of external stakeholders.
"The creation of a new Prevention group also allows us to bring together many of our existing functions which are focused on preventing crime.
"The new structure also brings us into line with other Police district structures, and with national policing priorities.
"This change will ensure we have the management systems in place to focus on frontline policing and on prevention activities, so we can continue delivering outstanding police services to the people of Canterbury."
"And as we have said from the outset of this process, there are no reductions in staff numbers and no stations will be closed."
Some existing management positions have been changed and new ones created as a result of the review, and Superintendent Knowles says he expects existing managers will be deployed into the new roles.
At lower levels, most District staff will remain in the same or similar roles. In some cases, reporting lines and/or work locations may change.
Much of this detail has yet to be finalised, and in the next phase of the review managers will work through the planning and detail over the coming weeks.
The review proposal, released in May, attracted some 40 submissions representing 55 police staff. A comprehensive submission was made by the Police Association.
Police also met with a range of external stakeholders to present the proposal and seek feedback.
Superintendent Knowles says he hopes to have the new structure fully in place and operational by the time the new Christchurch Central Station opens in December.
ENDS