Threats of abuse of staff and workers at Tauranga City Council has soared this year. Photo / File
The number of Tauranga City Council staff and workers experiencing abuse and threats has soared over the past three years.
Figures released to the Bay of Plenty Times reveal 27 council staff and four contractors have been subjected to non-physical assaults this year to date .
It is a jump of 1450 per cent on the one staff member and one contractor experiencing abuse in the entire 2019 year.
In 2018, eight staff and one contractor reported being threatened or abused.
General manager of people and engagement Susan Jamieson said while the jump in figures was partly due to improved reporting, there had been a "significant increase" in threatening behaviour to staff this year. This included verbal threats, anti-social behaviour, social media threats and xenophobic behaviour.
"Our frontline staff have regular contact with the community, and unfortunately this involves experiencing a range of unacceptable behaviours," she said.
"Thankfully, no council staff or contractors have been physically assaulted while at work over the past three years. We have had numerous near misses that involve threatening behaviour. These incidents have the potential to escalate, but staff have successfully managed to defuse the situation," Jamieson said.
At Western Bay of Plenty District Council, there had also been a surge in incidents in recent years, including one physical assault when a compliance officer was kicked in the stomach while on the job in Pukehina in April.
Jamieson said the threat of physical assault was one of the city council's priority health and safety risks and all front-facing teams applied risk control measures. These included working in pairs, body-worn cameras, panic alarms and situational de-escalation training.
"Staff and customer safety is our primary concern. Our goal is for our people to be in a safe working environment, every day."
The department that experienced the most abuse and threats was the libraries team.
Jamieson said the figures, which did not include malicious, abusive and negative comments on the council's social media platforms, were not enough to determine a specific reason for such an increase. The rise in poor behaviour had also been observed online.
Abusive and threatening comments were deleted and sometimes the commenters banned but Jamieson said the level of online abuse was growing "and is increasingly detrimental for those who are exposed to it".
Examples of comments provided to the Bay of Plenty Times were too offensive to publish but conveyed significant anger and violence towards council staff.
"It's not only staff who receive this abuse, but also elected members," Jamieson said.
Councillor Jako Abrie said he had been harangued online and "by the 50th negative message, it was starting to impact me".
Abrie said he knew of at least one other elected member who had received death threats.
The abuse stopped once Abrie switched off his Facebook page, he said.
Councillor Kelvin Clout, who is serving his third term on council, said he had "indeed suffered my share of abuse, particularly online and in communications with some of my fellow elected members".
Clout said that while he had developed a fairly thick skin, the abuse had a disproportionate effect on his family.
Councillor Larry Baldock said he did not take too much notice of keyboard warriors but some examples of what he and his colleagues had been subjected to was a shock.
"Abuse is never acceptable and always affects you to some extent and it hurts families the most."
Deputy mayor Tina Salisbury said she had not personally experienced direct abuse or threats but had seen nasty comments towards staff on social media.
She said she was also aware of comments and communications that mocked her and made incorrect accusations about her character and incited negative views.
"I do not participate or respond as I believe the nameless people behind the posts are displaying their own character, not mine," Salisbury said.
"I do not condone or excuse abuse in any form, I am choosing to focus on the huge amount of work we have to do on behalf of the community who elected us to lead the city."
Public Service Association national secretary Glenn Barclay said any abuse or threats to council staff were always unacceptable.
"Public servants in front-facing roles periodically receive this sort of treatment, but it should never become normalised.
"Local government and community services in New Zealand are stretched thin, especially so with the ongoing impact of Covid-19. A growing population across New Zealand has not always been matched with a corresponding increase in funding or infrastructure. This will take time to fix, but unless the problem receives urgent attention we are likely to see more of these problems."
Barclay said the union took any threats of violence in the workplace extremely seriously and did everything in its power to keep its members safe.
In 2015, the Harmful Digital Communications Act came into effect, making it a crime for anyone publishing something considered a breach of its 10 principals.
It is also an offence for someone to threaten or intimidate another and could result in up to seven year's imprisonment.
Under the Harmful Digital Communications Act, a digital communication should not:
- disclose sensitive personal facts about an individual
- be threatening, intimidating, or menacing
- be grossly offensive to a reasonable person in the position of the affected individual
- be indecent or obscene
- be used to harass an individual
- make a false allegation
- contain a matter that is published in breach of confidence
- incite or encourage anyone to send a message to an individual for the purpose of causing harm to the individual
- incite or encourage an individual to commit suicide
- denigrate an individual by reason of colour, race, ethnic or national origins, religion, gender, sexual orientation or disability
Source - Netsafe NZ
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