Featherston police station rumours junked

Wairarapa police have junked rumours the Featherston police station may close.

In fact, there will be more staff on the beat, with five new officers joining the Wairarapa force, said Inspector Brent Register, Wairarapa police area commander.

None of the Wairarapa police stations would be closed and no staff would lose jobs, Mr Register said.

"I can absolutely reassure the community that there are no station closures planned and the new structure being proposed will actually see more staff on the frontline, not less."

The police planned to dedicate a team of 10 staff to cover South Wairarapa, he said.

"Instead of them (the public) relying on one particular officer, there could now be any one of the 10 that comes to a job."

Mr Register said the officers would be based where they worked.

Rumours had been flying around Featherston that the local station was shutting, said Featherston Community Board chairman Garry Thomas.

Mr Thomas said he was pleased there would be more police staff.

"The more eyes on the road, the better," he said.

Featherston resident Jim McKenna said it had been a worrying rumour because of trouble from "delinquents" in the town.

Mr Register said the extra staff would help address crime in the town as well as in Greytown, Martinborough and Carterton.

Crime prevention was a national strategy for the police.

With the introduction of officers using iPhones with police databases on them to file paperwork, officers would have more time to be out in the community, helping prevent crime.

It was about having a visible police presence "then and there" before crime happened, Mr Register said.

"Often before there is crime, there's a precursor to it."

For example, a person who committed an assault was likely to have been acting in a disorderly way beforehand and could be arrested for a disorderly charge, he said.

"That prevents an assault from happening."

Mr Register said since implementing the prevention strategy, there had been a marked drop in crime in the last few months.

Sergeant Carolyn Watson, of the Masterton police, said the whole idea was to better meet the demands of the district as a whole.

She said people could also expect to see more resources being bought in from outside when needed, such as road policing: "The aim is to have one district of operation with more resources available."

The restructuring would also mean increasing staff in areas of most demand, such as family violence, burglary, unlawful taking of cars and theft, said Ms Watson.

Restructuring of the whole country's police force was the driver behind the changes and Wellington was the second-to-last district to undergo changes.

The changes would take effect next month.

Other police districts had job losses as a result of restructuring change but Wairarapa was one of those to gain staff.