Police to move some Level 3 checkpoints
AUCKLAND: Police have clarified the location of Auckland’s lockdown checkpoints, following confusion north of Auckland this morning where residents reported being turned away from the policemanned stations.
Eight checkpoints were set up around Auckland’s regional boundaries as the Alert Level 3 restrictions came into effect at midnight Sunday.
The topic of lockdown checkpoints came up at yesterday’s Ministry of Health Covid19 update, when Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern conceded there was a ‘‘very clear miscommunication’’ regarding checkpoints’ boundaries.
Auckland’s ‘‘legal border’’ is exactly the same in the north as it was last time — but yesterday morning there was a checkpoint further north.
Ms Ardern suspected police extended Auckland’s border to Mangawhai because it might have meant people could travel more widely in the region, but what it actually meant was more towns and communities were affected than needed.
She said she was not looking to find blame.
A map of Auckland’s Level 3 border and more information on travelling through the boundary is available on the Government’s Covid19 website.
Police are setting up additional checkpoints and ‘‘refining’’ the locations of the checkpoints to ensure they are as close as possible to Auckland’s border.
The three checkpoints north of Auckland will be relocated back to the same five locations from the last regional lockdown in 2020.
A small number of motorists were turned away at the checkpoints due to nonessential travel, a police spokesman said.