Auckland police can’t say how long it will take to restore safety on inner-city streets to pre-Covid-19 levels, as their resources return to full strength and home-based office workers trickle back to their desks.
The man in charge of policing in central Auckland, Inspector Grae Anderson, said it would take more than policing to deal with problems that have built up during two years of the pandemic.
“It requires involvement from everybody – it’s not just a policing problem, a council problem, it involves all concerned parties to come together,” the area commander told Stuff.
Despite calls for the return of a downtown police station to re-establish a permanent presence in the CBD, Anderson said he favoured investing in “boots on the ground”.
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Safety in the central city has become a key part of several mayoral campaigns for the October 2022 election, after focus groups and research found it to be a hot issue.
Police statistics show reported crime across Auckland to the end of February 2022 rose 27 per cent compared to a year earlier.
Mayoral Office/Supplied
Auckland mayor (2016-2022) Phil Goff, centre, with councillors Pippa Coom, left, and Chris Darby on night patrol in Fort St with police.
There was a 14 per cent rise over the rest of Aotearoa in the same period.
Heart of the City CEO-turned-candidate Viv Beck and fellow mayoral candidate Leo Molloy want a replacement of the downtown police station, which was closed in 2013, along with more resources and better co-ordination with other agencies.
“Bricks and mortar – it’s harking back to the old days when a person could walk down the street, see an event and report it, but by the time we visit it’s over and done with,” said Anderson.
“We can get better value from having our people out there doing the work. For me, that’s where I’d like to see our investment: getting men and women out there doing the job that is necessary.”
Anderson said there had been a shift in the demographics of the central city during two years of the pandemic, with deportees from Australia, some of them gang members, moving in.
He said there had been a rise in family violence among “vulnerable people and their families” who now live there in emergency housing.
Chris McKeen/Stuff
Police Auckland Central area commander Inspector Grae Anderson.
The loss of international students and large numbers of office staff working from home had also made more visible some issues which had always been there, such as perfectly legal rough sleepers.
Drunkenness was also a problem and police were aware of reports of liquor sales in breach of licensing conditions.
“We are addressing that with our partners, with the council, to ensure that doesn’t happen and those people’s licences are in jeopardy if they choose to breach them – we will look to consider prosecution,” he said.
Anderson insisted police numbers had not been down due to Covid-related duties such as operating MIQ facilities, border work, and “reassurance patrols”, but they had been without specific roles.
“Our public safety teams and a number of key teams that deliver on particular roles have been ever present,” he said, but that the mix was being restored.
Lawrence Smith/Stuff
Boarded-up windows at the Gucci store on Auckland’s Queen Street after a ram raid in April.
“My intention is to have boots on the ground, walking the beat, driving through the city, being present, visible and engaging with public.”
The relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions to orange traffic light settings help bring back thousands of office staff, but Anderson did not want to put a timeframe on a recovery.
“That’s a really challenging question, how long is it going to take.”
