Police conduct thousands of checks during Alert Level 4
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster:
Police continue
to have a highly visible presence in the community with
over
4000 reassurance visits to essential facilities
and over 6000 directed
patrols since the current Alert
Level 4 restrictions came into effect.
As of 5pm
yesterday, Police have conducted 4483 reassurance checks
at
essential facilities and 6041 directed patrols for
reassurance or prevention
since Alert Level 4
began.
While compliance has generally been very good
across the country, a small
number of incidents
continue to attract Police attention.
Officers will
remain out and about in our communities, particularly
at
high-demand locations such as supermarkets and
COVID-19 testing and
vaccination sites.
Police
are urging New Zealanders to do the right thing by wearing a
face
covering when accessing essential
services.
Failing to comply with this requirement puts
essential workers and our
communities at risk. While
Police continue to engage and encourage
compliance, we
will not hesitate to take swift enforcement action
when
necessary.
Overall, Police remain pleased
with the response to Alert Level
4
restrictions.
As of 5pm yesterday, 29 people
have been charged with a total of 33
offences
nationwide since Alert Level 4 began. These
arrests are primarily the result
of protest
activity.
Of the 33 charges filed, 16 are for Failing
to Comply with Order (COVID-19),
12 for Failure to
Comply with Direction/Prohibition/Restriction and five
for
Health Act breaches.
In the same period, 85
people were issued with formal warnings. Thirty-two
of
the formal warnings were for Failing to Comply with
Order (COVID-19), 21 for
Failure to Comply with
Direction/Prohibition/Restriction and 32 for Health
Act
breaches.
Police have received a total of 5848 online
breach notifications – 3526
about a gathering, 1788
about a business, and 534 about an individual.
In
addition to the Online Breach Reports, a total of 4110
Covid-19 related
calls were made to the 105-phone line.
The majority (2898) of calls were
requests for
information, and 1212 were to report perceived
Covid-19
breaches.
From 19 August 2021, Police
began issuing infringements for COVID-19
related
breaches. As at 5pm on 22 August 2021, Police
have issued 365 infringements
nationwide. The breakdown
of these total offences is as follows:
• Person failed
to remain at current home / residence – 328
• Person
failed to wear a face covering on premises – 15
•
Person failed to comply with applicable physical distancing
rule – 13
• Obstruct/Hinder Medical Officer of Health
or Person Assisting Med Officer
– 6
• Person
failed to wear a face covering on public transport –
2
• Person in control of premises failed to close as
required – 1
Over the weekend four people in
Northland were arrested after police
investigating two
separate alert level breaches also found evidence
of
drug-related offending.
In Whangamatā, Police
had to remind a steady flow of people that the
fine
weather was not an invitation to take a Sunday
drive to the beach or do a
recycling drop-off at the
local transfer station. As a result, we have issued
a
number of formal warnings.
And in Taupō a mountain
biker who fell on a bike track had to be winched out
by
rescue helicopter and taken to hospital. Police will be
speaking to the
biker at a later date and enforcement
action for breaching restrictions will
be
considered.
For the most up to date and accurate
information, go to www.covid19.govt.nz
[1].