Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s security team rushes him out of law and order press conference

Security teams rushed Prime Minister Christopher Luxon out of an Auckland press conference today, telling the leader: “We need to leave right now.”

The Prime Minister called the conference at Albert St in Auckland’s CBD as part of a walkabout to promote his Government’s policy of putting more police officers on the beat.

He was flanked by former police officer Mark Mitchell, the current Police Minister, and Casey Costello, the Associate Police Minister, as well as Police Commissioner Andrew Coster.

Shop owners told the PM they were already feeling safer because of the increased police presence, Luxon told reporters.

However, a short time later members of his team ended the conference with calls of “we gotta go”.

Video showed a security service officer tapping the Luxon’s shoulder and saying: “We need to leave right now, sir”.

The PM and his team then quickly exited the Good To Go mini-supermarket holding the conference.

The Herald understands the PM’s team may have feared being caught on the street by pro-Palestinian protesters.

Earlier, Luxon said he’d been out meeting with retailers in Auckland’s inner city area.

They told him having more officers on the streets had delivered results within a matter of weeks, he said.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon's security detail whisked him out of a press conference on law and order in Auckland today.

“What we’re here to do is to make sure that we have more police out and about on the beat, but importantly that we are restoring law and order in New Zealand and that people are feeling safer in their homes, their businesses and communities,” Luxon said.

Retailers said they had been getting more visits in their stores from police and it was making them feel safer, he said.

Coster said the force had “certainly” been seeing a downward trend in crime in Auckland’s city centre since the drive to put more officers on the streets had started three weeks ago.

“But this is a long-term thing, we need to see a sustained reduction,” he said.

Luxon said key stakeholders in Auckland’s city centre had all been involved in the initiative.

“It’s actually happening on the ground and it’s been fantastic,” Luxon said.

Then, within about 10 minutes, Luxon was whisked away by his security team.