Covid 19 coronavirus: Kaikohe checkpoint takes a step back

By Peter de Graaf

Northland Age·

28 Apr, 2020 03:48 AM3 mins to read

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Police Minister Stuart Nash speaks to the Epidemic Response Committee about the community checkpoints being set up around the country. Video / Parliament TV ...

An iwi-led checkpoint at the entrance to Kaikohe is continuing to operate after police said they would protect people's right to travel for legitimate purposes.

However, drivers are no longer being made to stop, and anyone who stops voluntarily is offered a leaflet with Covid-19 advice.

Kaikohe checkpoint co-ordinator Jay Hepi said on Friday his team had been working with local police and Far North area commander Inspector Riki Whiu from the outset.

"That's why we're still here," he said.

The checkpoint was allowed to stay as long as organisers worked with the police and followed their guidelines, Mr Hepi said.

"They didn't want us to block the road, so we allow people to travel through. Some go by, which is totally fine, but many people are willing to stop, and we give them information." he added.

From the start the checkpoint crew had waved through essential traffic, and only stopped anyone who might have been travelling in breach of the level 4 lockdown rules. Any negative reaction had been online rather than from locals, who showed their appreciation daily with gifts of home baking.

Northland MP Matt King has urged police to shut down "vigilante" checkpoints, while his National Party colleagues have been calling on police to clarify their legality.

Police responded on Thursday with a statement saying they understood some small, isolated communities felt vulnerable to Covid-19, but they didn't encourage the public to run their own checkpoints.

"Where communities have determined to undertake checkpoints to prevent the spread of Covid-19, police are working with those communities and other agencies to ensure checkpoints are safe and not preventing lawful use of the road," the statement added.

If checkpoints were deemed necessary they would be operated by police alongside community members, conducted safely, according to police guidelines, guided by the current alert level, and would not restrict access for people moving for legitimate purposes.

The police did not envisage a need for checkpoints at alert level 2.

Most of the iwi-run checkpoints around Northland operate under the banner of former MP Hone Harawira's "Tai Tokerau Border Control", and on Thursday Mr Harawira challenged Mr King to join him at the Kaikohe checkpoint to "see for himself the support the checkpoints have." Mr King said he didn't see the point.

"My argument is they're illegal. I don't doubt they are well intentioned, and there are some really good people on those checkpoints, but allowing civilians to set up road blocks sets a bad precedent," he said.

Mr King believed the police statement was a step in the right direction, but he was still pushing for the checkpoints to be stopped altogether.

Iwi-led Covid-19 checkpoints have operated at various times at Waiomio, Mangamuka, Cable Bay, the South Hokianga, the Hokianga ferry, Kāeo, Te Hapua and other locations, with Kaikohe and Waitangi proving the most controversial. Coastal communities have also blocked roads at locations such as Whananaki and Pataua.

Last week National MP Gerry Brownlee raised the checkpoint issue at an Epidemic Response Committee meeting, citing the example of an East Coast 70-year-old who claimed to have been blocked by gang members from driving to a dairy. That story has since, however, been called into question.