Issuing warnings to boaties failing to wear lifejackets or travelling too fast near dive flags kept maritime police busy during a two-week deployment to the Bay of Islands.
A police rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB) usually based in Auckland spent 15 days on the water between December 29 and January 13, crewed by skippers from Auckland police and a roster of four specially trained Northland cops.
The most serious incidents were an on-water police chase, complete with lights and sirens, sparked by a catamaran speeding past dive flags at 40 knots (74km/h) on January 5. The offending catamaran was powered by four 300hp outboards so it took the length of the Bay for the police to catch up.
In another incident the police boat had to put itself in the path of another vessel heading straight for a diver who had emerged a long way from his dive flag.
Tragically, the police boat also helped in the search for a 44-year-old Kaikohe diver who died near Moturoa Island on January 4, then transported members of the National Dive Squad to the site that evening to recover his body.