Open meeting to discuss Motueka policing

February 17th, 2016
[by David Armstrong]

Is police work in the Motueka ward adequate to serve the community's needs? This question will be put to the new Police Area Commander at a public meeting in two weeks.

Following numerous ongoing perceived policing concerns in the Motueka Ward, the Motueka Community Board will host the meeting with Area Commander Mat Arnold-Kelly (pictured right) and his team.

Community Board chairman Paul Hawkes organised the meeting, which will be an open public discussion for residents to air their concerns. Arnold-Kelly will also put forward his ideas and new strategies to increase levels of service currently on offer.

The meeting will be held in the Memorial Hall supper room at 6.00pm on March 1st.

Paul Hawkes told Motueka Online there has been a perceived lack of service gradually declining over the last three years, with the Community Board having had previous discussions from concerns, from local events by Ward rate payers, with the then Area Commander Steve Greely.

"Some cosmetic changes were made, which on a whole, were greatly received by locals, but were short lived, with the problems soon returning to the status quo as previous."

Asked how these perceived shortcomings of policing manifest themselves in the community, Paul listed the following:

Lack of direct manning of a 24-hour station,
Poor response times, especially if the local staff have been called to cover out of area stations,
Poor clearance rates,
Poor actual attending crime or contact with those that have reported crime,
Lack of staff time/ resources to attend to crime,
Safety of towns folk as well as the after-hours Police on duty (minimum safe working numbers),
Lack of Police simply walking the streets, especially High Street. "It is a well-known fact that a rapport is set up between the public and Police and basic crime intel is gathered via word of mouth is a very cost effective resource."
The lack of visible presence does not foster a good attitude towards policing.

"Criminal activity does not occur 8-5, Monday to Friday," Paul said. "Rostering of staff needs to be handled with local input. A minimum core staff needs to be based around these active periods.

"Not being a Policeman, I do not wish to comment on a minimum Policing level, but a better rostering of resources needs to be maintained to see both criminal activity targeted at the times it occurs, plus maintaining a better safe working environment for the staff concerned."

By way of example, he recounted a recent severe assault case in High Street. "The victim was set upon. Police and medics called. Medics cannot render assistance until the scene is deemed safe. A Police presence was required from Nelson.

"[It was] some 20 minutes plus before they arrived, meaning 20 minutes of non medical assistance for the victim. The victim was seriously injured, flown to Wellington by Rescue Helicopter and in an induced coma. Luckily the person recovered over time.

"And a recent High Street business burglary was attended by Police staff, but due to minimal staff resources, the business owner played detective to save time and reviewed security footage. The alleged criminals were identified.

"Nelson Police were given the details to effect an immediate follow up and search warrant, but again due to apparent staff shortages, the warrant was not followed through on some three weeks later."

Paul is keen not to "bag" the local Police themselves.

"We are fortunate to have a dedicated group of locally based Policing staff, passionate about our Community. It is a recognised fact that staff numbers have declined over the last 3 years, from 23 to now 18.

"Resources are thin, but these staff do an amazing job, often after their normal working hours. They have the local knowledge to fight crime at a far more effective level than someone coming into the area to cover staff shortages.

"I praise the work they carry out and know from past personal experience that with more resources and better managed resources, the level of service can return to that or near to that of which it once was.

"I realise many local staff are hamstrung and frustrated with policy, but why should they burn out and face leaving our community?

"Better use of rostered staff, managed from a local Motueka based officer would seem, in my opinion, be a worthy consideration. I agree that at times local staff will be required to travel to outside regions to cover staff shortages, but not at the expense of local servicing."

He hopes Area Commander Arnold-Kelly will remain open to the views of the community. In a recent interview with the Nelson Mail the new Police boss said one of his two priorities as he settled into the new job was a "health check" on Nelson Bays police and how staff are deployed.

He said there would be no drastic changes but it was about ensuring the region's police was "fit for purpose" for the future. He's taking a "bottom up" approach by asking frontline staff and their supervisors to make suggestions for what could be improved.

"We're getting the ideas from the bottom up so the staff can tell me how they think they can do their job more effectively and what are the barriers to them working effectively," he told the Nelson Mail.

Comment by Rev. Matt Beech:
[Posted 22 February 2016]

Sadly, it does appear as with so many other front-line staff in Govt. Departments, they are victims so often of what politicians term "'re-prioritizing' of available resources'", an excuse for the fact that there are insufficient funds for effective staffing and work to be carried out. Some honesty instead of 'spin' on their part would be welcome; perhaps even a little surprising!

I wish the new Commander every success, but he will have an uphill task whilst the present Govt. ministers continue to 'wield their razors'. Everyone suffers whilst this continues. The Police (even though this might sound somewhat non-PC) need our prayerful support.

Comment by Amberli Hartwell:
[Posted 25 February 2016]

There are more police in Motueka than Richmond apparently -I think whats needed is to break the silence, especially for young folk, so we all have a deeper understanding of whats really going on not to get depressed, but so the community support each other to help address the causes of those issues as a whole rather than focus on PR which switches off young folk anyway coz they see through it.Involving young folk in the changes would be a good start.

Comment by Rankeilor Arnott:
[Posted 25 February 2016]

We certainly need a meeting. Good work Paul Hawkes.

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