The plan by the NZ Police to reorganise their structure in Hawke's Bay is a typical example of where the government has got it so wrong. The police, starved of funding by central government for so long, have now been forced to create some 'efficiencies.' Bugger the outcome for our communities -we only have so much to spend so how can we get our job done cheaper.
So the new Napier Station is going to be a 'satellite' station to Hastings. It will not be a 24/7 station, our new mobile police force will be available to those who can quickly summon that mobile force.
That is assuming there are members of the mobile force currently in Napier. If not, no matter what the emergency, they will be available ex the centre of this new policing universe, Hastings.
Tell me where else in the world does a city with a population of almost 60,000 - a city that is major centre of tourism, have no 24/7 police station.
There will be no lock-up facilities in Napier. That begs the question: What is the Napier Police station all about? I'm told it will have meeting rooms for community groups such as the Maori Wardens and Community Patrols.
Is that what we want? A facility that provides meeting rooms for groups often doing exactly the work good, old-fashioned cops used to do.
At a meeting on Sunday afternoon attended by close on 150 fired-up members of the Napier community, it was very clear the people of Napier feel very let down by the NZ Police plans to centralise their operations in Hastings.
No one was critical of the police personnel - clearly the decisions are based on funding decisions made by central government - a central government that doesn't understand the meaning of the word 'community.'
It is now abundantly obvious that the next step in this undisclosed plan of centralisation will be to close the Napier Courthouse and shift all court cases to Hastings. This proposition was effectively confirmed by a senior member of the police at Sunday's meeting. On top of the impact of losing the enormous police administrative team from Napier's CBD, we now face the prospect of losing a very substantial number of court staff. All in the mistaken idea that centralisation is always efficient.
As Mayor of Napier, I have never been consulted on any of the government's centralisation projects. To be fair, the local police hierarchy who I have a very good relationship with, have told me of their intentions. But all decisions have already been made and the elected leader of the community of Napier has had absolutely no input into the plans affecting our city.
Clearly our current government intends riding rough-shod over the interests of local communities, all in the interests of so-called efficiencies. Local democracy appears to play no part in its thinking.
I have never been a fan of mob rule. However I am starting to think that the community of Napier may need to stand up and say we are sick of being treated as second class by this government.
Maybe, just maybe, we might have to show the government how serious we are.
- Bill Dalton is Mayor of Napier.
- Views expressed here are the writer's opinion and not the newspaper's. Email: editor@hbtoday.co.nz
