A person has been found dead at a property in the Christchurch suburb of Bryndwr tonight and another person at the same address was rushed to hospital. Video / NZ Herald
Christchurch’s top-ranking officer has stated police are happy to chat with the city’s shop owners over fears of safety, but defended claims his squadron has let the city down.
Talking to Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald, Canterbury Police Superintendent Lane Todd responded to a petition launched by shop owners in the central city.
The petition, published on Change.org is on the back of an alleged “lack of police presence” in the city, workers in the CBD have witnessed physical assaults, daylight drug deals and indecent exposure.
Workers are also said to be experiencing verbal harassment on “a daily, if not weekly basis”.
Canterbury Superintendent, Lane Todd responded to a petition launched by shop owners in the central city. Photo / Rachel Das
“When police are called about this crime taking place, little to no action is made,” the petition states.
Todd told MacDonald he wasn’t aware of the petition until 56 minutes before their interview, however, he said police in the district were open to having conversations about their concerns.
“Quite a few months ago there were concerns raised, so we increased foot patrols in larger malls,” said Todd.
Those malls included Eastgate Mall and Riccarton Mall, the latter of which has been subject to numerous reports of youth crime escapades over the course of last year.
Todd rejected claims that foot patrols had dried up in the shopping malls, he said they’d continued over Christmas.
According to the superintendent, the Christchurch Mayor, Phil Mauger, also launched a task force with key agencies to focus on safety across the city - but specifically in the CBD.
The petition, published on Change.org is on the back of an alleged “lack of police presence” in the city. Photo / George Heard
“We’re still working through the terms of reference of that, what we want to do and what action we want out of it,” he said.
When pushed on the notion police were not turning up to jobs where city workers reported crimes in the CBD, Todd began to list off the scale of jobs that Christchurch police had tackled in the 24 hours prior.
“We get these jobs reported at 6am every morning, we dealt with five mental health jobs, five attempted suicides and on average they take between two and three hours,” he said.
“We had sixteen burglaries, 10 cars broken into, 12 family harm incidents and that’s coupled with 10 family harm jobs on hold - so we still have to get to them later today on top of other jobs coming through.”
Todd was defiant his district’s officers are conscious of needing momentum to get projects, such as Mauger’s task force, off the ground.
Todd rejected claims that foot patrols had dried up in the shopping malls, he said they’d continued over Christmas. Photo / Michael Craig
There’s a possibility that private security companies will be working in collaboration with local police through funding to help the issue, conversations are still ongoing with business associations on a solution.
However, Todd believes the answer does not just lie in the hands of local constables.
“We’ll have a look [at any petitions made] but it won’t just be police solving the problem,” said Todd.
“It’s part of the conversation, the point I make is that we’re part of the jigsaw but we can’t fix it ourselves.”
In November last year, 80 business owners across the Christchurch CBD made calls for an “urgent response” from Government due to the frequent nature of anti-social behaviour and crime.
The owners signed a joint letter, which asked for sufficient resources and changes to hold offenders to account.
