Police team effort well received by community

A total of 158 police staff took to the streets of Bay of Plenty today to provide community reassurance and to find ways to tackle the root causes of crime and reduce crashes on our roads.

Operation Presence was an initiative born in the Western Bay of Plenty which today was extended across the entire district and will continue into the future.

It was all hands on deck; from senior management through to front line constables. This included the District Commander Superintendent Glenn Dunbier who joined the team out in Kawerau where he visited victims of crime, carried out road safety checks and assisted at a search warrant in Te Teko where nearly 60 cannabis plants were located.

Other staff visited licensed premises, hotels, schools, second-hand dealers, retailers, tourist locations, and carried out crime prevention leaflet drops. Police located a number of people who were wanted for arrest and paid visits to high risk youths and people on bail conditions.

Prevention Manager, Inspector Scott Fraser said: "Victims were a big focus of today's operation with visits to a number who had suffered burglaries or family violence. In one case police have had to respond over 30 times to a couple as a result of family violence incidents. Each of those occasions has the potential to tie two officers up for up to four hours. Today was an opportunity to speak to that couple when tempers were calm and alcohol wasn't a factor. During that meeting we were able to discuss positive interventions to stop the cycle and prevent further incidents of family violence. They were pleased we had taken the time to go and see them and were receptive to the advice and help being offered. It was a similar theme with all of the victims visited today."

"All of the activity undertaken is routinely carried out during day-to-day business but some of our staff and management are in roles that are incredibly important to policing but don't always provide them with the opportunity to have quality face-to-face time with members of the public in the heart of our communities.

"Feedback from the staff has also been incredibly positive. They are often so busy responding to emergency incidents that they found it refreshing to be out their problem-solving and working with the community to prevent crime rather than simply responding to it."

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