24-hour policing in Mid Northland from Monday

From Monday police will be on the beat 24-hours a day out of Kerikeri (pictured), Kaikohe or Kawakawa stations. Photo / File

Police will be on the beat 24 hours a day in the Mid North from Monday as part of a promise to expand the region's thin blue line.

However, Kaitaia, which was to have been the first cab off the rank in the Mid and Far North, will likely have to wait until October to get round-the-clock policing.

Sergeant Haydn Korach, of Northland police, said under the new roster starting on July 2 the Mid North would have 24-hour police cover with officers based out of Kerikeri, Kaikohe or Kawakawa.

That didn't mean the stations would be open to the public at all hours, ''but there will be staff on the beat, in the district somewhere and ready to respond'', he said.

The new roster would allow police to respond more quickly to late-night incidents, calls for service and crime prevention, he said.

Under the plan announced last year Kaitaia was to have gone 24/7 in the 2017-18 financial year, with Kerikeri/Kaikohe in 2018-19 and Dargaville in 2018-19.

However, Kaitaia's new top policeman, Senior Sergeant Russell Richards, said 24-hour cover couldn't start until the town had the required staff numbers.

''We've got some really good recruits in the pipeline, but the message is we still need more locals from places like Kaitaia and Kohukohu, people who know their communities,'' he said.

Inspector Riki Whiu, area commander for the Mid and Far North, said: ''Last year Northland got the biggest increase it's had in many years — an extra 66 staff over four years, with five of those allocated to Kaitaia — but training those staff isn't going to happen all at once.''

If all went to plan Kaitaia would have the numbers to bring in 24-hour policing in October.

The new roster had started in the Mid North because he believed the area had enough staff to make the transition to a 24-hour model.

Starting in winter meant there was time to ensure the new roster was working well before the busy summer season kicked in, Whiu said.

The change was a result of police ''listening to the community'' and responding to those who continued to cause harm when there were few or no police around.

''But the whole plan rests on our ability to attract and recruit. Northland has done reasonably well but we'd still like more people from rural communities who have a passion for people,'' he said.

Police Commissioner Mike Bush's commitment in April last year to boost police numbers in Northland followed a series of homicides, increased organised crime and Police Association claims that Northland staff were ''ready to fall over'' from stress and long hours.

Bush also pledged that three stations — Kaitaia, Kerikeri or Kaikohe, and Dargaville — would be staffed 24/7. Currently Whangarei is the only Northland station with police on the beat 24 hours a day.

The new government has promised another 1800 police staff over three years but has yet to announce exactly where they will be based.