The average police response time to all callouts is now one hour and 18 minutes in Northland. Photo / NZME
The average police response time to all callouts is now one hour and 18 minutes in Northland. Photo / NZME
Northland police say despite an increase in response times, they are still responding "with urgency" to any incidents where a threat to people or property is present.
Police took six days to respond to questions from the Advocate about data released last week showing average response times in Northland haverisen by 47 minutes since 2017.
The average response time for all callouts was 31 minutes 44 seconds in October 2017, and one hour 18 minutes in February 2022.
Northland district commander Superintendent Tony Hill said the pandemic and the additional work for police associated with it, had an impact on response times.
"As with all districts across the country, there has undoubtedly been increased pressure on staffing and resources in the past two years in response to the Covid-19 pandemic."
Other issues also stretched police resources, Hill said, including a significant increase in Northland's population in recent years.
"Even with the Covid-19 response being a dominant feature in our communities over the last two years, other demands such as family harm, mental health and responding to accidents on our roads have continued to grow year-on-year since 2017."
Hill acknowledged the higher response times in rural parts of the district.
"Northland's geography and the location of some of our more remote communities are a challenge for us and do contribute to our response times generally being higher than other metropolitan areas."
Northland district commander Superintendent Tony Hill. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Police took more than half an hour to respond to a serious assault last month involving gang members, which took place on Kaikohe's main street.
The data included response times to lower priority callouts, as well as urgent jobs. Hill said while he did not have Northland-specific data, responses for urgent jobs were much quicker.
The national median response time to emergency events was 15 minutes 11 seconds in the 2020/21 financial year, he said, and 8 minutes 21 seconds in urban areas.
This was an increase from 12 minutes 37 seconds in rural areas and 7 minutes 42 seconds in urban areas in 2017/18.
These figures were median response times, rather than averages, which Hill said were more accurate.
Police numbers have increased by 26 per cent in Northland since 2017, the highest rise of any district in the country.
