Operation Trolley: Rotorua police on opposition to operation

Discarded supermarket trolleys in Rotorua. Photos / Laura Smith

Rotorua’s area commander has commended opposition to Operation Trolley, saying the controversy raised awareness of the homeless community.

January’s Operation Trolley lasted three days and resulted in 13 people being arrested, 45 trolleys returned to stores and 19 trespass orders issued.

Seven of the arrests were for possessing shopping trolleys and those people were given verbal warnings. The other six arrests were for alleged historical offending, including theft, assault, bail breaches and trespassing.

Praised by some in the community for tackling an enduring problem, others claimed it unfairly targeted vulnerable people.

Police at the time said that while being homeless was not a crime, they had received complaints about homeless in the CBD intimidating other people with trolleys.

Police area commander Inspector Herby Ngawhika spoke during a Rotorua Lakes Council community and district development committee meeting on Wednesday.

The council’s Community Safety Plan involved police partnership and focused heavily on the CBD.

Rotorua area commander Inspector Herby Ngawhika at a previous council meeting. Photo / Laura Smith

Ngawhika said the operation was “interesting”.

“I say it was good because the byproduct of it was everyone we interacted with in regards to that operation were given referrals to appropriate services.”

Some took it up, some did not.

Removing the trolleys was good too, he said. The partnership worked to make the city clean and safe.

He said it was about raising awareness of the homeless and vulnerable community.

“It instigated some action by the Feed the People Group. I commend that.”

More than 200 free meals were handed-out in the counter-operation.

The issue of abandoned trolleys has come up several times during this council term, and in 2023 about 260 trolleys were removed from the inner city each month, costing ratepayers about $5000 per month.

It was the council’s responsibility to recover abandoned trolleys because they were classified as illegal dumping.

It later worked with four major shops to manage the issue.

Ngawhika said visibility of vulnerable community members had increased recently, including back on traffic islands.

Police last year began charging people who begged in the middle of intersections.

He said at the time many locals were not happy with the beggars’ actions and felt intimidated.

Destination development group manager Jean-Paul Gaston said there were some “good gains in the last 18 months”.

Comparing the period from October to January 2023 and October to January 2025 there was a 22% decrease in violent offences and a 23% reduction in property damage offences.

Dishonesty offences rose by 5%.

Both trespass and drug anti-social offences remained the same.

The next steps were to look at hot spots.

The council would continue to look at its bylaws, whether some needed to be “enhanced” to address begging and areas like supermarket and petrol station entries and exits.

Rotorua Lakes Council destination development group manager Jean-Paul Gaston and community safety and regulatory services director Mihikore Owen at a previous meeting. Photo / Laura Smith

Gaston said it was looking at opportunities to create a “referral app” for not-for-profits to focus on wraparound interventions for “harder to address individuals”.

The council’s inner city safety manager Kylie Kennett said the city’s mall was a hotspot.

The council was working to get a guardian presence there.

Councillor Fisher Wang also asked how effective the alcohol ban area was, to which Ngawhika said “it is one of the greatest pieces of bylaw we can have” and made a “huge difference” on violence and disorder.

Councillor Conan O’Brien raised his view on how the homeless seemed to be shifted from A to B, and asked what was happening to address the problem.

Gaston said it used a graduated approach of education and working with not-for-profits.

“It is a case of trying to communicate, create a relationship with them and encourage them to take up services many of them do need.”

Enforcement was the final step.

Councillor Conan O'Brien in a March 2025 meeting. Photo / Laura Smith

O’Brien also asked about police resourcing and Ngawhika said Rotorua would get a share of new staff.

The Government announced 500 additional police officers nationwide last year.

Ngawhika said some of the Bay of Plenty and Rotorua allocation was for dedicated community policing.

Laura Smith is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. She previously reported general news for the Otago Daily Times and Southland Express, and has been a journalist since 2019.

- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.