Please attribute to Police Commissioner Andrew Coster:
Police around the country will step up their visibility and road patrols to ensure people are complying with the Alert Level 4 restrictions, and staying home.
With the Alert Level remaining the same for the weekend, we ask New Zealanders to continue to ensure their movement away from home is for essential purposes only.
All Police districts will ensure they have high visibility in the community where people are accessing essential services, and on the roads, to deter travel that is not essential.
The vast majority of New Zealanders have demonstrated an amazing level of compliance, and we need to ensure their hard work and sacrifice is not compromised by a few who deliberately break the rules.
People can expect that police will intensify our enforcement of the Level 4 restrictions, and more people will be stopped and questioned about their reason for moving away from home.
We are already prepared for an alert level change and our planning includes a more stringent approach to non-essential movement in the current Level 4.
Our operational planning is well-advanced and we are ready to move quickly to establish region-specific boundaries to enforce any alert level changes.
The official locations for these will be publicised once the Health Order has been received.
New Zealanders have responded well to the latest restrictions, and the vast majority of people have been doing the right thing.
As we have all through Alert Level 4, staff will look to ensure people understand the restrictions, but we will take enforcement action where necessary.
ENDS
Issued by Police Media Centre