Police swap patrol cars for two wheels

Sergeant Steve Sutton, left, and Bruce Horne joined dozens of police staff out on the streets yesterday as part of Operation Presence. Photo / Andrew Warner

The boys and girls in blue were out to be seen in the streets of Rotorua as part of Operation Presence yesterday.

The staff at the Rotorua police station swapped their cars for bikes and ditched their desks for the streets to carry out the operation to make themselves more visible and provide extra community assurance.

Rotorua police area commander Inspector Bruce Horne said the operation was held every month and involved police staff and staff from a number of partner agencies.

This month had a focus on family violence, with police visiting victims, checking in on them and seeing if any additional support was needed.

Police were also out on their bikes doing preventative tasks across the central city.

Mr Horne said the response to the operation was extremely positive.

"It's been fantastic. You get a lot of waves and smiles," he said.

"Being on a bike, it also means we're more accessible. It enables us to slow down and have conversations with people so they can get to know who we are as people. Hopefully that contact will help them feel more comfortable to call us in the future."

Mr Horne said the operation also got a lot of positive feedback from retailers, tourists and visitors to the city.

It was important for the police to be seen out in the community.

"There are two key things the public want from police and that's to feel safe and to feel cared for." By being visible and taking a preventive approach, police could, hopefully, make the community feel safer along with providing that face-to-face contact which might make people feel cared for as individuals.