Frustration building as Northland police response times rise to over an hour

Kaikohe's main street, where a serious assault took place last month that police took more than half an hour to respond to. Photo / File

Frustration is building in parts of Northland over long waits for police to attend urgent callouts.

Kaikohe Business Association chairwoman Linda Bracken said slow police response times were a major issue in the town, which does not have a 24-hour police presence.

Bracken saw a serious assault take place in Kaikohe just a few weeks ago, when Killer Beez gang members attacked a Tribesmen member in the street, 300m from the police station.

Kaikohe Police would not attend without reinforcements from Kerikeri, half an hour away, which Bracken said she understands, as they only had one local officer available.

"There's no way if I was wearing a uniform I would've turned up in that place," she said.

Linda Bracken, Kaikohe Business Association chairwoman, says Kaikohe is in desperate need of a 24/7 police station. Photo / File

Locals had to fill the gap, directing traffic and helping the wounded man as the ambulance and rescue helicopter did not arrive until police did.

Although she stresses that there were good things happening in the Far North town, there was an ongoing issue with gang activity, Bracken said.

There has been an increased police presence in Kaikohe since the assault, she said, but a 24-hour station was needed as the current response times were putting people at risk.

New data shows the average police response time in Northland has risen by 47 minutes since October 2017, and now sits at one hour and 18 minutes.

New Zealand Police Association president Chris Cahill said additional duties during the pandemic stretched police resources.

"Covid has certainly had an effect, with MIQ and the need to staff border checkpoints."

There were other ongoing issues, he added, with increasing numbers of both family harm and mental health callouts.

"The response to these incidents is more complex than it once was," Cahill said.

Police Association president Chris Cahill. Photo / NZME

These callouts now often take more than an hour, much longer than they took previously, he said.

Cahill pointed out that the data includes all callouts, not just the highest priority calls that required an immediate response.

The data on response times was provided by the Government after an Official Information Act request from the National Party.

In a statement, National Party police spokesperson Mark Mitchell blamed increased response times across the country on gang activity and additional work due to Covid.

"This growth in gang numbers, combined with additional tasks like manning MIQ facilities and Covid checkpoints, has taken frontline staff away from their communities," he said.

The data, however, also showed a decrease in gang membership in Northland, despite an increase across the rest of the country.

The Northland response times were the second highest in New Zealand, just behind Auckland City, where the average response time rose to one hour, 49 minutes.

Response times rose in every part of the country except the Southern district, where response times actually decreased slightly, to 14 minutes and 52 seconds.

The largest increases were in the upper half of the North Island, with substantial rises in Waikato and Bay of Plenty.

Police have been asked for comment but did not respond by publication time.