Beat team aims to strengthen community ties
The 10 new cops in Christchurch’s community beat team won’t take away from neighbourhood policing, but will boost their ability to connect, police leaders say.
The beat teams were officially introduced at the city’s justice precinct yesterday as part of a national push to get more police in busy areas such as malls, bus hubs and the CBD, to deter antisocial offending with a gentler touch.
Associate Police Minister Casey Costello said having officers in these these high-volume spaces “makes a real difference to making people feel safe”.
“It’s about being seen. It’s about building community connections and creating safe environments.
“The difference you can make to people feeling safe by being visible cannot be overstated.”
Some social services feared that the move would reduce police coverage in surrounding suburbs such as Phillipstown, but Christchurch Superintendent Lane Todd said “we’re not bailing”.
“All the relationships that we’ve got in the key areas of Phillipstown, this team will still be having those relationships.
“When we’ve got the whole team operational, you’re going to be seeing a lot more police than you are now,” he said.
Officers trusted by the community, such as Senior Constable Soames “Spike” Crowther, would help to train the new officers to emulate the connections he and the Phillipstown neighbourhood policing team had built over the past decade, Todd said.
“We can’t rely on individuals, because we’ve all got a space and time and place and then we move to somewhere else and retire
“We’ve got a couple of young cops in there now, so [Crowther] will be introducing them to that community mindset and introducing them to people.”
Crowther said he wanted to be clear: “I’m not leaving Phillipstown.
“Other teams have fallen off at the drop of a hat, but Lane has stuck with us.“
He said he would continue to engage with the community through initiatives like cop time at the Ministry for Social Development, paw patrols focused on visiting social housing residents, and the local safety panel, which he hoped would be introduced to other suburbs.
Crowther and seven other experienced officers will use the new community beat team to build more connections with businesses, the public, and those who may be known to police, in an effort to help reduce offending rather than just react to it.
More beat officers are expected to come as the Government works to deliver on its promise to add 500 more frontline officers across the motu, but it is too soon to say how many would be stationed in Ōtautahi.
Assistant Police Commissioner Mike Johnson said the work the team had done in the leadup to the official launch had had a positive impact on businesses and locals alike.
“I know security staff in the malls, and the retailers have told the team they are now happy and feel supported.”
Business Canterbury chief executive Leeann Watson said businesses were pleased about the additional officers, after highlighting the need for visible police around shops for the past year.
“It certainly creates a a much stronger sense of safety, not only for our businesses to operate but for their staff to operate,” she said.