Influx from city prompts policing shake-up

The Waikato Expressway. Photo / NZME.

More traffic, new rural residents lead to station changes in North and East Waikato.

A Waikato rural policing review has had to consider how to deal with the influx of Aucklanders moving to the region.

As part of the changes, Ngaruawahia station is to see an increase in numbers, while a new 24-7 policing hub is to be established in Paeroa.

Waikato police district commander Superintendent Bruce Bird said the region was futureproofing for the population influx and more motorists on the roads between Hamilton and Auckland. The 24-7 capability would help, he said.

Waikato's roading network, including the Waikato Expressway, was "dramatically changing" the environment, Superintendent Bird said.

"Some might say that it opens up the Waikato to Auckland, in particular, a lot more.

"There is a changing demographic in the Waikato especially with substantial growth in terms of population. "Just about everybody that has bought around us [North Hamilton] is from Auckland. So yes, there is a lot going on that we need to constantly be over the top of and viewing in how we see that world."

He said with the upcoming inland port in Hamilton there would be more trucks on the roads.

There were also large amounts of traffic passing between Auckland and the Port of Tauranga which the region was adapting to, he said.

Ngatea, Whangamata and Te Aroha stations are to lose a police officer each to the new Paeroa policing hub.

Superintendent Bird said there were no job losses, but they had come up with a way to use staff more efficiently while providing new round-the-clock coverage in the eastern Waikato.

Two experienced officers, Thames-Coromandel sub area manager Senior Sergeant Graham Shields and Hauraki sub area manager Senior Sergeant Rex Knight, will have their positions disestablished and vy for one of the sergeant's positions at the new hub. The other officer will remain in their job and the position dealt with through attrition, when the officer retires.

"The intent out of this is to make sure our management is as lean as it can be and that [it] is reinvested in the front line because that's where the public want us," he said.

Waihi Beach is to remain a patrol base and have a community constable based there.

Waihi CIB would move to Thames which Mr Bird described as a "paper transfer only", and said officers would be sent from and to where the demand was.

Ngatea and Te Aroha would each lose one of its officers to Paeroa which is 24km and 21km away respectively.

Whangamata would lose its Sergeant, dropping numbers from five to four, to help provide supervisory coverage of the 13 constables based at the new Paeroa hub.

Negotiations were still going on in Tairua where numbers will reduce from two to one, with the remaining officer becoming a floater for staff on leave on the Coromandel.

Mr Penno said equipping all officers with iPhones and iPads had made them more efficient, and the introduction of the crime reporting line had reduced their workload by 36 per cent.

Waikato-Bay of Plenty police association director Wayne Aberhart said the results of the review were still sinking in for some staff.

"Staff have been consulted, some probably don't like the result.

"I think some of the staff from smaller stations might be upset that they're going from a two man station to a one."

Hauraki mayor John Tregidga was pleased his patch would receive 24/7 coverage and said the police focus was more on preventing crime.

Rural police review

• New Eastern Waikato 24 hour policing hub in Paeroa.

• Huntly becomes new headquarters for Western Waikato with 24 hour policing hub.

• Former Western Waikato area base, Te Awamutu, to remain 24 hours.