Senior Sergeant Russell Richards: Every offence must be counted

Senior Sergeant Russell Richards

Time has flown in the first two weeks in my new role as Area Response Manager for Te Hiku.

It has also been a flat out couple of weeks for your frontline police. Of note was the apprehension of an active burglar in the Mangonui area last week, with the assistance of members of the public.

Calls to family harm episodes, violence, burglaries, cars being broken into and vehicle crashes keep the frontline tied up, and reduce our ability to be more visible in our communities.

As I get around and speak to leaders within the community, business owners and residents I hear the frustrations about not seeing police proactively patrolling or arriving quickly enough when they are called.

This is a common theme throughout rural communities, and one we are always trying to address, however we always have to prioritise on a case by case basis.

One thing I do ask is that the community uses the 111 emergency system. This is the most effective and efficient way to get a frontline responder to you, and ensures that other resources are deployed and managed at the same time to ensure public safety and better outcomes.

While I appreciate that people enjoy getting on to social media and discussing offences that have occurred in Te Hiku, and discuss/name who may be responsible for offending, police still need these offences to be reported, either on the Crime Reporting Line (0800 115-019) or at the public counter.

We are an evidence-based organisation, and while some information on Facebook is interesting, for matters to proceed we need information that is credible, reliable and usable.

I also know there is a lot of under-reporting, because of the perception that the police are too busy or not interested. I can assure that we are very interested, and for us to better deploy to demand in Te Hiku we need you to report any offences.

Lastly, I want to mention recruiting for the Te Hiku police. We have a number of new recruits coming out of the Royal New Zealand Police College to work in our community.

The exciting thing here is that most if not all of them have local connections, grew up in the area, or have whanau here. I have been impressed with the calibre and how keen they are to work in the community.

Sergeant Sarah Wihongi and other local staff have been very proactive in recruiting, and as a result the right people in the community are joining up.

If you are interested in joining the team, or have whānau who you believe can help make Te Hiku a safer place, then get in touch with Sarah at the Kaitāia police station on (09) 408-6500 for more information.

Have a safe week.