Are there enough police in Rotorua to cater for the demand created by emergency housing?
Are there enough police in Rotorua to cater for the demand created by emergency housing?
Rotorua’s police numbers have risen by just four staff members following an influx of homeless people living in the city’s motels and a subsequent increase in police callouts, new figures show.
The small rise has been described by Rotorua mayor Tania Tapsell as “woefully short of keeping pace with significant demand”.
Police Minister Chris Hipkins told the Rotorua Daily Post in November the city had been given 20 extra staff in the past five years and the Government was funding more police in Rotorua and the rest of the country than ever.
His comments came after Tapsell called for more police to address the pressures local officers were under as a result of a rise in police callouts centred around emergency housing motels.
New Zealand Police said it was unable to supply the exact staffing numbers for operational reasons but an Official Information Act request made by the Rotorua Daily Post showed Rotorua’s staffing increase mainly happened before the city faced issues from the hundreds more people staying in emergency housing motels.
The figures show this year there were 150.5 police employees at the Rotorua police station, including sworn and non-sworn staff. It’s the highest number of police since at least 2016.
The city’s numbers jumped by 17 staff members between 2016 and 2020 - rising from 129.5 to 146.5.
Emergency housing numbers started to grow when the first Covid-19 lockdown struck in March 2020. The numbers continued to rise significantly in 2021.
An additional four staff members were added to the Rotorua police ranks between 2020 and 2022.
The Rotorua Daily Post revealed in September heat maps showing the number of times police had been called this year compared with 2018.
The maps, obtained by former police boss Gary Smith under the Official Information Act, showed significant increases, particularly around the Fenton St area and other areas where there were emergency housing motels.
Smith told the Rotorua Daily Post in September he and his wife had been forced to leave Rotorua and move to Cambridge because they felt their son, who suffered a disability, was no longer able to safely live independently in the Glenholme area.
In response to the new Rotorua police figures, Tapsell said she had been firm in her call to the Government for better police resourcing in Rotorua and would continue to advocate for this.
“The concentrated use of motels for emergency housing in Rotorua has seen crime rates increase in these areas, as well as impact the perception of community safety. This has taken a significant toll on our community and our tourism economy. It’s also placed unnecessary pressure on our support services in Rotorua.”
Rotorua mayor Tania Tapsell. Photo / Andrew Warner
“An increase of four police staff over the past couple of years is woefully short of keeping pace with significant demand. Our Rotorua community deserves to feel confident that issues will be responded to appropriately as they arise. This isn’t possible while our local police service is under-resourced.”
Last week, Tapsell, along with Housing Minister Megan Woods and Te Arawa, signed the Rotorua Housing Accord which aims to reduce the number of emergency housing motels.
Police Minister Chris Hipkins. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Police Minister Chris Hipkins was asked if the rise in Rotorua’s staff in the past two years was enough and whether he’d consider further increasing police numbers to allow a targeted police team in Rotorua until emergency housing numbers were reduced.
In response, Hipkins said the Government had funded 1621 additional police during the past five years.
“How police allocate its resources is a matter for the Commissioner.”
Bay of Plenty district commander Superintendent Tim Anderson. Photo / Andrew Warner
Bay of Plenty district commander Superintendent Tim Anderson said there would always be challenges prioritising the demands across a large geographic area like the Bay of Plenty and they did their best with the resources given.
The staffing allocations were continually being reviewed, he said.
“I can assure you all of our staff work hard to do the very best for their communities and our Rotorua officers are no exception.
“I recognise there has been recent concern expressed from the community around an increase in demand associated with emergency housing.”
He said living in emergency accommodation presented its own challenges.
“Our role as police is to ensure everyone in our community is safe and feels safe but we cannot do it alone.
“We have strong relationships with partner agencies and there is some great work being done by social service providers to support our most vulnerable residents.”
He said staff would continue to be deployed to incidents where people’s safety was at risk and other priority calls, such as threats of violence against a person or property.
“We are always looking at ways to improve our service to all of Bay of Plenty’s communities, which we note are continuing to grow and bringing additional calls for service.”
He said an extra two staff were set to join Rotorua this year and he expected to add more with new recruits in the years ahead.
“We will continue to deploy our staff to the locations where our communities need us.”
