Police Digital Services Centre opens in Kāpiti

The new Police Digital Services Centre in Kāpiti has been officially opened by Police Minister Stuart Nash and Police Commissioner Mike Bush.

The centre, located at the western end of Ihakara St, Paraparaumu, comprises a large open space area for staff to field non-emergency phones calls across the country as well as handle online non-emergency crime reports and new digital initiatives.

"We want to be in a space where members of the public can contact us anywhere, anytime, and they can do it in a channel that meets their needs," centre manager Inspector Mal Schwartfeger said.

The centre also features a lunch room, wellness room, training room, meeting room, conference room, chat room, lockers, toilets, showers and hot desks for police.

Staff numbers at the centre are gradually increasing as personnel are selected and training programmes completed.

The centre, which aims to operate 24/7, is expected to eventually house over 200 staff.

Early next year a single non-emergency phone number for the whole country will be announced - currently non-emergency calls are directed to the centre via police stations around the country.

A key aim of the centre is to not only free up the 111 emergency number but also give people more choice in how they contact police.

And for people to know their calls and online messages are being processed and actions taken in an efficient manner.

Nash, who opened the centre yesterday, said one of the things he loved about the centre was it proved "you don't have to have a big building in the heart of Auckland or Wellington, you can actually bring it out to the regions".

He said police received about 1.9 million calls a year of which one million weren't emergencies.

"This is not only driving efficiency across the police service but about exceeding the expectations of our community.

"So when you phone up, you're not put on hold, you are actually going through to someone who can make it happen for you.

"It's setting the bar really high."

Bush said it was a "brilliant day not just for New Zealand Police but for this community and for the people we're here to serve".

He said the force was "in the process of transforming the way we deliver the service of policing to New Zealanders".

"Part of that is remaining very traditional, having our presence in the community whether by way of a station or by our people who are out there everyday visibly serving our community.

"But we have to keep pace and have to stay ahead and be a very contemporary organisation.

"In order to have the trust and confidence of everyone we've got to deliver a police service to people in a way that works for them.

"What we have here is a very important part of that transformation where we provide a non-emergency number, a digital service, crime reporting lines for non-emergency.

"So when people need us, they know how and it happens immediately and they get a brilliant service."

The new centre has also been gifted the name Te Whare Torotoro Waea Pirihimana, by local iwi Te Ati Awa ki Whakarongotai.