A Rotorua police union representative says having 12 Rotorua staff removed from the roster on top of other staff being diverted to Covid-19 tasks is creating pressure.
However the police say they have long had plans in place to cover situations with changing deployment needs.
New Zealand PoliceAssociation Bay of Plenty Waikato regional director Scott Thompson, from Rotorua, said being 12 staff down in Rotorua was a lot.
The stood down staff are self-isolating after coming into contact with two people who have tested positive for Covid-19 in Rotorua.
The couple came to the attention of police during a callout on Saturday afternoon and the woman gave birth prematurely at Rotorua Hospital. The baby later died.
Both the woman and her partner tested positive for Covid-19 after arriving at the hospital. They were now self-isolating in Auckland.
There are 138 sworn and non-sworn staff who work for Rotorua police.
Thompson said it was the nature of police work for various staff to deal with one person and it was the right call for the safety of staff and their families for all 12 to be self-isolating.
"Having 12 down is a big group of people to be taken out of business as usual duties. Those staff were just going about their jobs and now they have the added worry of their safety and their families too."
He said given there were now positive cases in Rotorua and Taupō, it showed the virus had come out of Auckland or Waikato.
"It shows the virus doesn't play by the rules and unfortunately some people who are affected don't play by the rules either."
He said despite New Zealand Police getting a staffing boost of about 10 per cent four years ago, there had been added pressures since that had seen many staff diverted.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, staff have been called away to do border duties and MIQ roles, taking more staff from the general duties pool.
He said Rotorua also seemed to be "carrying a higher number of people who needed emergency housing" support and while a percentage of them were Rotorua families who couldn't find rental properties, there were people from out of town who had come to Rotorua motels.
"That has meant a bit more demand on service because when you have a confined space of people doing it hard, it doesn't take long for it to go wrong."
Thompson said all of this was compounding and added to police pressure.
While more police staff would help, Thompson said there needed to be more teachers, doctors, social workers and mental health staff too so that ideally more police weren't needed to "clean up the mess".
He said the concern was if more incidents like this happened, police would be too stretched to do their job.
"Crime doesn't stop just because we are 12 staff down. Police always want to do a gold star job but they can't do it all."
Rotorua police area commander Inspector Phil Taikato said the police had long had plans in place to cover a range of situations where deployment requirements changed.
Rotorua police area commander Inspector Phil Taikato. Photo / NZME
"We recognise the extra pressure our people can be under when this disruption happens, and look to provide support to ensure our staff remain fit, well, and able to keep themselves and the public safe.
"The health and safety of our staff, and our community, is of utmost priority, and is why the decision was made to have the group of staff isolate."
