Feilding business leaders fear weaker police presence

Feilding business advocates have joined calls to maintain a strong police presence in the town and in rural communities amid a restructure of the force.

Police staff in the Central District have received a consultation document outlining a ‘‘proposed structure and deployment’’ model for the area, which includes Manawatu, Whanganui and Taranaki.

Business Promotions chairman Wayne Short feared the changes could include officers from the Palmerston North station operating on call on a rostered basis.

‘‘From a business point of view, we can understand it – but it can’t be done if the result of it will be detrimental to performance.

‘‘We’ve got a lot of gaps in security footage around town and it would be preferable to have police on site at all times, rather than having a 15-minute delay if anything goes wrong.’’

District commander Superintendent Sue Schwalger said the proposed changes would not result in the closure of any of the 40 police stations in the district, or a reduction in the total number of staff.

‘‘I wish to reassure the Feilding community there is no threat the Feilding police station will close or that there will be a reduction in policing in Feilding,’’ Schwalger said. The restructure was about ‘‘flexibility and smartest use of our available resources’’.

The Police Association said last month the changes could result in more crime in rural areas. Manawatu mayor Helen Worboys said communities feared resources being taken away and it was important that the police continued to have fast response times. Rangitikei mayor Andy Watson said he had received assurances changes would be ‘‘minimal’’.

Feilding and District Promotion chairman Jason Smith said the town would have to increase its private security if police were to respond from the Palmerston North station.

Feilding and District Promotion employs a fulltime security officer who patrols the business CBD every night, with two officers operating on a Friday night.

‘‘The fear is we’ll have to increase private security if there is a lesser police presence and there is a cost to the community involved with that.

‘‘We know there’s not going to be 10 officers waiting for things to happen, but we can let the community know there’s a police presence at all times if they’re based in Feilding.’’

Schwalger said there had been no discussion regarding reducing the hours of coverage or shifting to an on-call response.

‘‘I can assure the community that there will continue to be a 24/7 policing presence.’’