There are 773 frontline police officers in the Bay of Plenty. Photo / File
Security workers are dealing with more violence and threats as the Bay of Plenty's gang presence increases, with less support from police, a security company boss says.
And National's police spokesman says an extra 103 police officers in the region is "not enough" as estimated gang member numbers nearly double local police ranks.
The Minister of Police says the Government is on track to add the new 1800 officers nationwide it invested in three years ago.
As of October last year, there were 773 fulltime officers in the Bay, up 15 per cent on 2017's total of 670, according to figures provided by police under the Official Information Act.
Across New Zealand, there were 10,093 officers - rising by 1198 over the same period.
New police numbers spiked to 558 officers in 2019, the year after the Government announced it would add 1800 to the nation's force by June 2023.
Most of the officers coming to the region since the announcement have gone into frontline policing, investigations, and youth services.
Watchdog Security chief executive Brett Wilson said there had been a "massive increase" in gang activity and violence, and in his experience, police were less able to help with backup.
The business operates in Tauranga and Rotorua with 55 staff.
Wilson said aggression and threats had increased across the board, meaning two staff were now needed for what would have been a one-person job two years ago.
He recalled a noise control job where a man became increasingly aggressive. The security team, who would usually leave, stayed and waited for the police, worried about the aggression towards the neighbour.
"They waited for two and a half hours and police still didn't arrive," he said.
He said there were also occasions where police could not help Watchdog staff with backup when staff were threatened.
In his view: "They haven't got the resource to do it so we can't do our job."
He believed the reduction in police ability to back his staff up was because officers were "so tapped out" with domestic violence increasing, among other crimes.
Wilson said he believed the increased gang activity was largely related to the so-called 501s returning to New Zealand from Australia after being deported on character grounds. He said this cohort had "noticeably" changed the level of aggression among existing gangs.
Wilson said while this was happening across the region, it appeared to be more prevalent in Tauranga as the city was targeted for drug dealing because of the wealthier clientele.
In Rotorua, there was a "rapidly growing" group of youths in a group that fed into a gang.
Youths as young as 14 would wear gang regalia, deal drugs, assault and commit other crimes, becoming more "brazen" and "cocky", he said.
National Party police spokesman Mark Mitchell said, on the face of it, 103 new police officers were "not enough" especially given the increase in gang membership.
He said the Bay of Plenty had 1468 people on the national gang list in October 2021, almost double the number of police.
"As it stands, gang numbers have increased over four times faster than police numbers."
He said the Government had delivered 15 per cent of its promised 1800 new police officers nationwide, 19 months overdue on the July 2020 target.
Asked what National would have done differently if it were in Government, Mitchell said it would have invested in dedicated purpose-built MIQ facilities at the start of the pandemic, removing the need to use front line police officers to guard multiple facilities.
He said it would support police to "increase and ramp up" targeted operations focused on gangs, drugs and violent offending.
"We would pass legislation that would give police practical tools to be able to police and target organised crime and gangs even more effectively."
Police Minister Poto Williams said the Government's record investment in police was on track to achieve the target of next June, and police numbers fell under the last National Government in 2011, 2013 and 2017.
Williams said the investment in police allowed the agency to employ more investigators and specialists focusing on serious and organised crime.
The investment supported investigations such as Operation Tauwhiro, a targeted operation that disrupts and prevents firearm-related violence by criminal gangs and organised criminal groups.
Williams said the firearms buyback scheme resulted in more than 65,000 firearms being taken off the street and was "one of many bold initiatives" to reduce firearms violence and harm, and improve firearms safety.
It included firearms modernisation work and strengthening firearms legislation.
To continue this work, a dedicated business unit under police was established and would develop New Zealand's first Arms Registry in 2023, Williams said.
Bay of Plenty district prevention manager Inspector Steve Bullock said the number of officers was determined by Police National Headquarters after considering factors like population and geography.
He said the at times "unpredictable" nature of policing meant there were occasions when the Bay of Plenty needed support from other districts, or the region was in a position to support other districts.
Emergencies such as Whakaari/White Island or other natural disasters saw staff re-deployed from their usual role.
Staff were "well-versed" at re-deploying to demand, he said.
Last month, when asked about delayed response to domestic violence call-outs, Bullock said the region's police contributed staff resources to the national police Covid-19 response.
He did not answer questions about how many staff were deployed for this or examples of the impact the reduced numbers had on teams' ability to deal with issues.
Bullock said all calls for service and officer-discovered incidents were prioritised.
Any calls that involved immediate violence or threats of violence to people take priority at all times and police responded as soon "as physically possible", he said. Family harm makes up the majority of these calls.
Violence or threats to property, road safety, and serious criminal investigations such as murder, child protection, adult sexual assault and serious assaults are also a priority, he said.
Burglary, criminal damage, neighbourly disputes, and civil matters sometimes have longer response times when there are more urgent matters of safety risk to attend, he said.
Between December 2020 and October last year, the number of front-line officers dropped in Northland, Waitematā, Auckland City, Waikato, Eastern, Central, Wellington, Canterbury and Southern districts.
When asked if the Bay of Plenty may have a drop, Bullock said the region regularly reviewed staffing "to ensure we maximise our resource at all times".
He said numbers fluctuated because of attrition in areas, which was mitigated through workforce management, recruiting and deployment.
"Our district has planned for a reduction in deployable staff due to Covid-19, and now Omicron, should it impact as predicted."
Two additional wings, with a combined total of 140 recruits, were expected to graduate from Royal New Zealand Police College (RNZPC) before the end of last year, the Official Information Act stated.
In November and December, seven new recruits came to Bay of Plenty from those wings. The region's February cohort was six.
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