Porirua patrols halved

Murray Lucas decries the loss of his community constable.

Tawa College’s principal said having a dedicated officer for the suburb meant he had one person to talk to about crime issues in the area or to engage with at-risk students.

Today, he has to deal with different police staff regularly.

‘‘I’ve had this concern for some time,’’ he said. ‘‘Police locally do a very good job, but the relationship-building you had before just isn’t there now.

‘‘The constable earned respect with the school and our families, they spoke to the kids and added value to Tawa.’’

Labour has pledged to increase national police numbers from the current 8907 to 10,000 in its first term, should they win the election next year, and this included putting more cops on the beat.

Leader Andrew Little said police were stretched too thin to stop crime, especially drug use and assaults.

In the Kapiti Mana police district, statistics show police foot patrols went steadily down in the past two years - 4204 in 2014, 2576 in 2015 and 2126 in 2016.

Drug offences are up 93.8 per cent to 250 this year, disorder rose 32.8 per cent to 620 incidents and public place assaults, burglary and vehicle theft were up between 24 and 29 per cent.

Kapiti Mana acting area commander Pete Jones said crime prevention ‘‘required smart work behind the scenes’’, rather than boots on the ground.

Foot patrols were deployed ‘‘based on intelligence, so they [were] in the right place at the right time’’.

A community policing team operated in Porirua, but a change was made in 2014 to operate without suburban boundaries.

Mana MP Kris Faafoi said police do a fantastic job but resources were too stretched.

‘‘The thin blue line is getting thinner, the attitude at the national level needs to change.’’