Northland is often our forgotten region, now it needs our help – Editorial

Kerikeri's police resources are under pressure. Photo / Peter de Graaf

Editorial

• Police have sent 90 additional officers to Northland, due to a surge in homicides and violent crime.
• Northland has experienced nine homicides this year, straining local police resources.
• Superintendent Matt Srhoj highlighted resource challenges, emphasising the region’s recruitment problems.

This Government campaigned strongly at the last election to crack down on crime.

It is often a popular political position; after all, nobody wants to live in unsafe communities where the threat of violence becomes part of daily life.

And while the rates of certain offending – such as ram raids on our retailers – have dropped significantly, we are seeing spikes in others in particular areas.

Today, we revealed that police officers from across the country are now being sent to Northland on five-week rotations.

Some 90 extra cops are being shipped north. The reason: a surge in homicides and violent crime.

There have already been nine homicides this year in Northland, which has a population of about 200,000, and local police are struggling to cope.

Northland District Commander Superintendent Matt Srhoj told the Herald there has been a squeeze on resources and staff have been diverted from other investigations.

“Homicides take up huge amounts of resources for a significant number of weeks and it creates difficulty to deal with some of the other matters that also require attention from us,” he said.

Northland is one of this country’s most deprived regions. Despite being near the economic powerhouses of Auckland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty, the winterless north doesn’t get the proximity benefits it should.

Whangārei should be the tip of our golden triangle, yet it sits in a region plagued by high rates of poverty and unemployment – and therefore crime.

If you google “meth capital of NZ”, Northland often appears high in the results and wastewater testing showed methamphetamine use tripled in Northland last year.

There are also high levels of adult sexual assault and child protection matters, Srhoj explained.

Te Rūnanga-Ā-Iwi-Ō-Ngāpuhi chair Mane Tahere said the lack of police in Northland was “dire” and he was particularly concerned about child abuse investigations.

The pressure on resources appears to be at its worst in mid and Far North towns like Kaitāia, Kaikohe, Kerikeri, Moerewa and Kawakawa.

Despite some of these towns being only a few hours’ drive from Auckland, they are often the places New Zealand has forgotten.

This newspaper has welcomed the Government’s plan to build a motorway north, which was ignorantly called a “holiday highway” by critics.

Creating more economic opportunities north of the slip-prone Brynderwyn Hills must be part of the solution to lower crime in the region.

The thinly stretched blue line in Northland is also exacerbated by difficulties with attracting new staff to the region, Srhoj said.

This newspaper has also demanded the Government ensure it keeps its promise of increasing our police force by an extra 500 officers.

It would seem many of them should be deployed to Northland.

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