KEY POINTS:
Sixteen police officers from around the country have been brought in to help Counties Manukau detectives following a spate of violent crime that has plagued the district this year.
South Auckland has been hit by at least eight serious crimes - including three homicides, a gunfight, a violent home invasion and an attempted murder - in the past three weeks alone.
Those crimes come on top of the Daryl Graydon homicide in Howick on December 8.
Despite arrests in that case and several others that have happened since, dozens of officers are still working on inquiries and preparing the matters for court, meaning they have little time to take on new cases.
That, combined with the latest spate of violence, has left Counties Manukau's detectives stretched.
Three officers have come from Wellington's police headquarters, four from the Tasman area, four from Auckland City and five from the Waitemata district which includes West Auckland, the North Shore and Rodney.
Counties Manukau police spokeswoman Angeline Barlow said the visiting officers, most of whom are detectives, had been spread around the active investigations.
She said it was not unusual for districts to borrow staff from other areas when they became busy.
Last year, Counties Manukau staff were sent to the Waikato to help on a series of crimes. They have since returned.
The last time Counties Manukau needed help was in 2006, when the district was hit by a spate of high-profile homicides, many of which were attributed to youth gangs and street violence.
Ms Barlow said the reinforcements were expected to stay in the district until at least the end of the month.
VIOLENT STREETS
* Jan 20: Patricia Joseph's body dumped in Clevedon river.
* Jan 25: Krishna Naidu killed in his family's Clendon dairy.
* Jan 26: Pihema Cameron fatally stabbed after tagging a fence in Manurewa.
* Jan 28: Attempted murder of 36-year-old Manurewa woman.
* Jan 29: Two men shot during a gang-related gunfight in Flat Bush.
* Feb 5: Two women attacked, one sexually, during an Otahuhu home invasion.
* Feb 5: Mangere man Henry Bailey dies after being pepper-sprayed following an alleged assault at his home.
* Feb 7: Axeman attacks elderly couple in Mangere Bridge.
