Lax security at Linton army base thanks to ancient fence
All that separates Linton Military Camp from the rest of the world is little more than a stock fence, a portion of deer fencing, and a residential profile aluminium fence.
It’s not much better than a No 8 wire job and the Defence Force has known for years its security is too lax for a 21st century military base.
Stroll in off the local golf course, climb over a fence with hardly any effort, throw contraband over the wire to inmates at the neighbouring Manawatu¯ Prison – it all seems too easy and potentially dangerous. And people have tried it on in the past – like a member of the Mongrel Mob.
There is, of course, security, surveillance and military police, but the perimeter fence is so unthreatening that it hardly counts as a serious barrier or deterrent to entry. This is all about to change. Inadequate fencing arrangements are set to be replaced by an 8.6-kilometre long, 2.9-metre high fence as the base looks to ramp up security.
A tender was put out for contractors to build the new perimeter fence and the Defence Force said work was expected to start in March 2018. The fence is expected to take a year to 18 months to build and will enclose the land area of about 212 hectares.
The Linton camp has had problems protecting itself in the past, with information released under the Official Information Act showing four people had been detected walking on to its grounds in 2016, including a member of the Mongrel Mob.
Military police recorded three incidents of people breaking into Linton Military Camp in 2016 in an attempt to smuggle contraband into Manawatu¯ Prison, which is only separated by a chain-link fence with three strands of barbed wire.
About a quarter of the Manawatu¯ Prison population had self-reported gang affiliations and documentation shows known gang members lived very close to Linton Military Camp.
A Defence Force spokesman said it was uncertain how long the current fence had been there for. ‘‘The land was bought by the New Zealand Government in 1941, with construction of the camp starting in February 1942.’’