Ōpononi, Ōmāpere and Waimamaku residents start petition for local police officer

Residents of three small communities in southern Hokianga want a permanent police presence in their area. Photo / NZME

Residents of Ōmāpere, Ōpononi and Waimamaku have started a petition calling for a permanent police presence in their area to reassure the community after a number of recent crimes.

Ōpononi-Ōmāpere Neighbourhood Support spokeswoman Juliana Hoogeveen said a police officer based in the area would help locals feel safer.

“There are a lot of older, retired people here and they don’t feel safe anymore... we do need police, we do need to feel safe enough, to know if things were really, really dire, there would be someone there immediately,” Hoogeven said.

“I think the police are trying quite hard but they’re stretched.”

Hoogeven said she had her own experience of crime when someone broke into her home in the middle of the night several months ago.

“My dog disturbed somebody who was actually in the house and the person had helped themselves to orange juice, which was kind of bizarre.”

Although the person had left, Hoogeveen found a large pair of gumboots by the door. She called police, who came the next day and took the orange juice and gumboots for forensics, she said.

Not long afterwards, other residents in her street saw a man underneath one of the other houses.

There was another incident, in Ōmāpere, where a retired couple’s car was stolen from outside their house while they were at home, and a house in the area that was rented out as an Airbnb was burgled and trashed by people who had rented it for a night, Hoogeveen said.

There were also two retail burglaries during the cyclone, one in Ōmāpere and one in Ōpononi.

The owner of one of the burgled shops, who did not want to be named, said there was no power in the area at the time and someone had taken advantage of shops having alarms and security features disabled.

He was in favour of the petition as this was not the first time the shop had been burgled and said police did not always respond quickly.

The nearest police station is in Rāwene, and the Far North District’s only 24-hour police station is in Kerikeri.

Police confirmed they were investigating a burglary at a commercial address in Ōpononi overnight on Sunday February 12 and another in Ōmāpere that was reported shortly before 4am on Monday February 13.

In a statement, police said they were open to discussing ways to reduce crime with the local community.

“Mid North Police, which includes the Ōpononi, Ōmāpere, and Waimamaku areas, are comfortable with our resourcing levels, however we continue to deploy our resource where there is demand for service,” the statement said.

“This means prioritising deploying our staff to incidents involving risk, such as threats of violence against a person or property.

“We are always looking at ways to improve our service to all of our communities and we are open to attend any meetings to hear concerns and discuss what we can do together to reduce crime in our area.”

The petition, which is available to sign at local retail outlets, has over 2000 signatures so far. Ōpononi-Ōmāpere Neighbourhood Support plan to present it to Parliament.

A police spokesperson asked anyone with information about the retail burglaries to contact them on 105, quoting file numbers 230224/0692 (Ōpononi) and 230213/7487 (Ōmāpere). Information can also be provided anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.