Northland will get six extra police officers to help with what one senior police representative has described as a "chronic staff shortage".
The extra staff will provide additional support and cover for existing staff and will support a focus on preventing and investigating volume crime types, such as car theftand burglary over the coming year, police confirmed yesterday.
Police Association president Greg O'Connor said he had visited the Far North police troops about two months ago and was told meth, or P as it is also known, was a factor in most of the jobs they were called to. Mr O'Connor said the workload for the number of staff available was putting officers under pressure and a reduction in funding for police investigating organised crime made it difficult to fight the P problem.
"Staffing levels in Northland are chronic. What is needed is extra resources to be dealing with organised crimes," Mr O'Connor said.
His comments came after Far North police seized a whopping 448kg of methamphetamine in the back of a campervan on Sunday and recovered a further 46kg found buried in bags on 90 Mile Beach after an Ahipara fisherman became suspicious of men trying to launch a boat.
In a written response, District Commander Superintendent Russell Le Prou said Northland police district, like any other police region, could secure support from other districts should staff numbers need to be increased at any time. When asked about staffing of the Northland police organised crime investigation team and if those numbers should be increased, Mr Le Prou was reluctant to respond with specifics.
"In relation to the recent meth bust, Northland District District staff were involved in the initial inquiry and managing the scenes. However, this operation has now been fully handed over to Police's Organised Crime Unit to manage, which works nationally and across all districts," Mr Le Prou said.
"This is standard practice, and again reflects how we can support each other."
It seemed police were also reluctant to give an update on the record-breaking meth bust yesterday. Police declined to answer questions about when testing of the seized drugs would begin and if the results would be made public.
They also declined to say whether they were satisfied they had recovered all drugs involved in the major importation. They would not say if there was an amount still outstanding.
