Police may be brought in to thwart escapees

The Government is reconsidering security at quarantine facilities after a man in isolation escaped an Auckland hotel to go to a supermarket where he took selfies and bought personal hygiene products.

The 32-year-old man who returned a positive test for Covid19 yesterday ‘‘absconded’’ from his managed isolation facility in Auckland on Tuesday night, through a gap in the fence.

The minister in charge of managed isolation and quarantine, Megan Woods, said the man snuck out of the hotel from the smoker’s area when contractors were replacing the outside fences with taller ones.

‘‘He used the opportunity of there being people around and a gap in the fence to slip through,’’ Woods told RNZ’s Checkpoint.

Security attempted to follow the man but were unsuccessful in locating him – and neither were the police who security contacted.

The man had gone to the Countdown supermarket on Victoria St West where he spent about 20 minutes.

Countdown’s corporate affairs general manager Kiri Hannifin said that the man ‘‘did a lot of browsing in the health and beauty aisle’’ while he was in the store.

He spent about 14 minutes in that aisle and then spent the other six minutes wandering around the store. He used a self-checkout to purchase his goods before leaving.

‘‘He had a phone with him, and he was taking photos with the phone . . . Yes selfies, that’s right.’’

The man bought items from the health and beauty aisle – toothpaste, body wash and razors.

He then wandered back to the hotel after his shopping trip. He was now expected to be charged under section 26 of the Covid Act and faces six months in prison or a $4000 fine.

Police have been going through CCTV and interviewing the man yesterday to establish all of his whereabouts during the time he was gone from the hotel.

Woods expected to have a report on this by this morning.

It was the second time someone has escaped. A woman who allegedly absconded from isolation at an Auckland hotel was charged last week for breaching isolation.

Resourcing problem

Woods said there was now a con

versation about what police presence was needed at managed isolation facilities. The isolation facilities are manned by private security staff who have no power to apprehend absconders – they have to call the police for help.

More than 400 Defence Force personnel are at facilities, but they are not using any Defence Act powers and rely on police to conduct enforcement.

They would require special powers to stop people from leaving, but that was not the current Government intention, according to Air Commodore Darryn Webb.

Police, who currently have an ‘‘enhanced roving presence’’, are understood to have initially pushed back from taking on fulltime guarding at facilities, which they saw as a health issue and not policing. It is understood adequate resourcing was also an issue for police.

Along with security staff, the hotels are supported with health workers, all of government support staff and the Defence Force personnel on a 24/7 shift.

Who is responsible?

Webb, who is the head of managed isolation and quarantine, said he was working with police to determine where best to apply their resources.

The police had said a roving presence was the best approach and it had flexibility, he said.

‘‘We have to determine if an onsite presence might be a better idea.’’

The facilities were not prisons and people staying in them needed to realise they had obligations, he said. ‘‘If they break the law, there will be consequences, and they will be charged,’’ Webb said.

Individual accountability ‘‘sat at the cornerstone of success’’ of the system, he said.

So far about 30,000 people had been through the facilities, with 6000 staying on any given day.

What now?

Officials were looking at an increased security presence, Webb said. They were working with police to ‘‘determine the best approach for their policing techniques’’ and would update the public today, he said.

Health Minister Chris Hipkins said the Government had zero tolerance for rule breakers who leave quarantine.

‘‘This person broke the law ... that is not acceptable. They are letting down the whole team of 5 million ... there are legal avenues available to the government and I expect those will be fully pursued.’’