Covid 19 coronavirus: Police say they do not encourage community checkpoints, outline the rules

Police do not encourage community checkpoints. Photo / File

Police have weighed in on a controversial Covid-19 fighting tactic, saying they do not encourage community checkpoints.

However, any deemed necessary would require district police working alongside community members, a spokesperson said.

The topic was debated by the Epidemic Response Committee meeting on Tuesday.

National MP Gerry Brownlee questioned private roadblocks springing up around the country preventing people from travelling to other areas.

He claimed a 70-year-old had been stopped from travelling to buy milk by a gang member wearing a hazard jacket telling him to go home.

"Is that appropriate or should that be entirely left to the police?" Brownlee said.

Police Minister Stuart Nash said: "That is certainly not appropriate, I would say, but I don't know the circumstances.

"What I would say in certain areas up the coast there are some really isolated communities where there is one road in and one road out.

"They are isolated not only from large urban areas but also from healthcare facilities.

"Where these checkpoints can operate with the blessing of police, of the local community, of the local council and key stakeholders then I am quite comfortable for them to happen."

But "ratbags and renegades" doing so without that support would be taken seriously by the police, he said.

"It's really horses for courses. When people are trying to block main arterial routes, that's not on."

Police today said they understood that some small and isolated communities felt they had "particular vulnerability" to Covid-19 but clarified that police did not encourage community checkpoints.

"Police and other agencies remain responsible for ensuring that people comply with the restrictions under the different Covid-19 alert levels," a spokesperson said.

Where communities had already set up checkpoints, police were working with those communities and other agencies to ensure they were safe and not preventing lawful use of the road.

Working in partnership with the local authority, the local Civil Defence emergency manager, local iwi, community groups and police would assess whether checkpoints were needed or if there were other solutions.

If Covid-19 checkpoints for vulnerable communities are deemed necessary for the overall safety and wellbeing of a community, they:

• Will be operated by district police alongside community members

• Will be conducted in a safe manner, according to police operational guidelines and practices

• Will be guided by the relevant alert level status as set out in the Government's Covid-19 response

• Will not restrict access for people moving through for legitimate purposes

Police will continue to work with those communities and local agencies in alert level 4 and 3 to understand their concerns and needs. Police do not see a need for Covid-19 checkpoints to operate at alert level 2.

"Every person in New Zealand has a right to freedom of movement, including to travel along the roading network and in any public place, and this fundamental right may only be restricted through the law," a police spokesperson said.

"Currently movement around our regions must comply with the settings allowed under Covid-19, set out at Covid-19.govt.nz.

"We recognise that community efforts to stop the spread of Covid-19 are motivated in the interests of the wider community.

"However, police must protect people's fundamental right to freedom of movement around their region for legitimate purposes."

• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website