Police working from cars as blaze investigation continues

Palmerston North community police officers are now working out of their cars after their offices were torched last night. File photo / NZ Herald

Palmerston North community police officers have been forced to work out of their cars while an investigation into an "ugly" arson attack on a local police station continues.

The suspicious fire at the Highbury community policing centre, on Highbury Ave, was the second in the past six years, following a molotov cocktail attack that caused extensive damage to one room.

The Fire Service was alerted to the blaze about 3am yesterday and three crews were able to bring the fire under control relatively quickly.

Palmerston North area commander Inspector Pat Handcock today said the eight staff who usually worked out of the station now had to work from their cars to maintain a presence in Highbury.

"They're obviously pretty disappointed in terms of what's happened," he told NZPA.

"We've got a great team of people down there who have a very, very good rapport with the community.

"It's a community police station, it forms an integral part of the Highbury community, and of course it's a pretty ugly thing to do - actually attack your own community, really."

A full assessment of the building would be completed today, he said.

Most of the damage was confined to one office downstairs and one upstairs, but there was also smoke damage throughout the building.

"We're hopeful that we may be able to reoccupy part of the building once it's had a bit of a clean-up," Mr Handcock said.

All eight staff should be able to work out of the station again soon, but police were "playing that by ear".

A team of officers, including detectives from CIB, were following up leads and talking to residents in the area.

"They will grind through the investigation and work with the Fire Service, so all that work should be completed by later this week we hope," he said.

"We're hoping that somebody from the community might come forward with some relevant information."

Police believe accelerants were used but more work was needed to establish the exact cause of the fire.

Mr Handcock did not want to speculate on the motives but said police stations were targeted "periodically".

The blaze follows an incident in April 2005 in which the back of the building was smashed and an object containing an accelerant was thrown in.

The building suffered extensive damage in one room, and smoke damage throughout the building.

- NZPA