Editorial - Tuesday December 10, 2013

Peter Jackson, editor, The Northland Age

THERE is no question that seat belts save lives, and that it is incumbent upon the police to ensure the highest possible rate of compliance. It seems fair to question whether the drive to achieve that compliance rate has gone too far, however, and whether the police in Northland have become fanatical to the point of ignoring more pressing priorities.

Police were out in numbers in Kaitaia last week, stopping cars in locations including the northern end of Commerce Street and Pukepoto Road, both 50km/h zones. Seat belts were the sole focus, at least in Pukepoto Road. The writer was flagged down there, by one of two officers who had apparently come from Whangarei for the day, but was waved through before coming to a stop. 'We're just checking seat belts today,' one said, and, obviously passing muster, there was no need to stop.

The checkpoint in Commerce Street reportedly had a somewhat wider brief - reportedly because none of the officers involved, all apparently local, were saying much - but seat belts were certainly at or near the top of the list there too. And the officers there, as observed by the writer, included a detective sergeant and a detective, both members of Kaitaia's Child Protection Unit.

Two important questions arise. Firstly, if the aim is to make Kaitaia's roads safer, why would seat belt checkpoints be set up inside the town's 50km/h zone? Obviously it is illegal to travel on any road at any speed without the proper restraint, but driving without a seat belt at 50km/h is hardly dicing with death. Granted, it is good that the police maintain a high profile and that people get used to the idea that they might encounter a checkpoint of some description anywhere at any time, but if the police really wanted to make that point, wouldn't they be better advised to set themselves up on the Awanui Straight? Or better still, State Highway 1 at Pamapuria?

A man died there recently, immediately outside Pamapuria School, the general consensus (allowing for the fact that the inquiry has not been completed) being that his chances of survival would have been much improved had he been wearing a seat belt. A seat belt checkpoint there would have had infinitely more value than one in Commerce Street or Pukepoto Road, for any number of reasons. They could have stationed an officer with a speed camera on one side of the checkpoint to snare speeding drivers, which would have demonstrated that they were taking the issue of safety on that particular section of highway seriously.

That would have provided some comfort to the kids at Pamapuria School, their teachers and parents, who would dearly love to see a speed restriction outside the school but haven't got one yet, and possibly never will.

Wherever the checkpoint, having stopped a vehicle, one would expect the officers to check everything - warrant, rego, roadworthiness, driver licence and sobriety included - as opposed to simply the use of seat belts, particularly if the officers had travelled all the way from Whangarei. Half the shift of the two officers in Kaitaia last week would have been spent travelling from Whangarei and back again. Hardly time well spent.

Secondly, the deployment of plain clothes officers to a seat belt checkpoint beggars belief, particularly when those officers are from Kaitaia's Child Protection Unit, which according to a variety of police sources is struggling to cope with its workload.

The accumulation of unassigned files first came to public attention last year, when now convicted paedophile James Parker became a household name. It was hinted at again as recently as 10 days ago, when a Far North uniformed officer was quoted in a Sunday newspaper as describing 2013 as a horror year for Northland, with the conviction of Parker, Daniel Taylor and Allan Titford. The officer, who worked in Kaitaia as a detective for more than a decade, added that the offending of those three was just the tip of the iceberg, and that a "massive" percentage of the police workload in Kaitaia involved sexual abuse.

New cases were arriving on a daily basis, she said, and while investigators "chipped away" at them, they were never ending. So what on Earth are two detectives doing checking seat belts in Commerce Street?

This newspaper, and at least two Far North towns, have had good cause to question policing priorities this year. In Kawakawa the major concern has been the apparent stripping of resources on behalf of Kerikeri, while in Kaitaia police were asked to explain why they were not responding to a long spate of burglaries. Kawakawa's situation doesn't seem to have improved, but there was a reaction in Kaitaia. Suddenly burglars were being arrested, and lo and behold, the stream of complaints slowed to a trickle. The police deserve credit for that, but it should not have taken a meeting with irate victims to achieve it.

This newspaper has absolutely no issue with the ability or the commitment of the police officers who serve Kaitaia. They are led by a senior sergeant who believes with some passion in addressing the bigger picture, the issues that produce crime, and victims. He believes in and supports modern policing methods, and has genuine concern for the victims of violence and dishonesty. He believes that alcohol is at the root of the most offending, and that that needs to be addressed by the community as a whole. He does not believe that the police can make a lasting impact on crime rates until that happens, although his staff are very good at arresting people.

Kaitaia's plain clothes officers are also very good at their job. Over the last year or two they have achieved some especially gratifying results, particularly in terms of drug and sex offending. Investigations into the likes of methamphetamine manufacture and dealing, and paedophilia, are often lengthy and complex. If they are to be successful they require intelligence, diligence and commitment, qualities that have been displayed again and again by these men and women. The CIB in Kaitaia, in its various manifestations, is also well led, and deserves credit for the results it is achieving.

However, the police in Kaitaia, uniformed and plain clothes, are not autonomous. This newspaper is not privy to the command structure that, amongst other things, determines policing priorities, but sees grounds for criticism. In the recent past police in Kaitaia have been slow to respond to what the layman would regard as obvious priorities, and last week would have been within his rights to question the extraordinary effort that went into policing what at the end of the day is a relatively minor breach of the road rules, especially in an environment in which people, young children excluded, would not be expected to come to any harm.

When it comes to police and the community working together to make those communities safer, getting serious sex offenders off the streets must be a higher priority than looking for those who don't wear seat belts on 50km/h streets.

Regular checkpoints to enforce road compliance generally is not a bad idea, but deploying officers from Whangarei seems wasteful, and deploying detectives is ridiculous. Highly trained, experienced detectives who can and do get results that genuinely make their community a safer one have better ways of spending their time than this, and passionate as the Northland road policing wing might be about its particular fiefdom, there is clearly a need to re-examine priorities.