Town wants its cops back on the beat
Feilding business owners are backing a bid to widen the thin blue line in their town.
Manchester House community worker Robyn Duncan has started a petition to restore police numbers in the town after hearing dozens of stories from the charity’s clients and the wider community of police taking more than 30 minutes to arrive when called about a crime.
Police top brass say they ‘‘remained committed’’ to Feilding and that response times are still good.
Feilding and District Promotions spokeswoman Amanda Harris says businesses are concerned by a ‘‘noticeable drop’’ in the visible police presence in Feilding after a restructure last year left just seven officers based there, down from 32.
She said many shop managers and business owners supported the petition’s goal.
Turners Sports store manager Philip Pearpoint was left battered and bruised after attempting to stop a thief and being dragged 700 metres up Manchester St by their getaway car.
Pearpoint said his store was targeted by more than its fair share of thieves and he could not speak highly enough of the police officers he’d dealt with over the years.
But he’d noticed the police’s response often seemed to take longer than it had before the restructure.
‘‘We can no longer reliably call the station and expect an officer to come promptly,’’ he said.
‘‘At times it takes considerably longer than it used to and it’s obvious they’ve had to come from some distance away.’’
Gracies clothing store owner Kerry Gracie said he supported Duncan’s efforts, but he doubted the petition would change anything.
Gracie said he’d been lucky enough not to have much need to call police recently.
‘‘The street lighting is good. We’ve got security cameras and business is a lot more busy lately. So there’s more people around – all of which puts people off [thieving].’’
Manawatu¯ police area commander Inspector Sarah Stewart said police remained committed to the Feilding community’s safety.
There hadn’t been significantly more shoplifting reported over the past year, and police responded to Feilding emergencies, such as assaults or crimes in progress, in 7.9 minutes on average, she said.
But response times varied and it may be longer before police arrived for less serious situations unlikely to get worse.
‘‘In determining resourcing needs in the district we are always mindful to balance the demand for services with the needs of the community.’’
Stewart said the town was not just covered by officers based at the Feilding station, but also Palmerston North officers, who came over on a shift-by-shift basis. There were also mobile frontline sergeants and highway patrol units covering Manawatu¯, including Feilding.
Duncan said hundreds of Feilding residents had signed the petition at Manchester House and several shop counters. It will be delivered to Parliament in September.
Also, more than 340 people have signed the online version.