Further Details On Police Checkpoints In Northland
Northland District Commander Superintendent Tony Hill:
Northland Police are now in a position to
release further details around
planned Police
checkpoints in partnership with Iwi to come into effect
when
the borders around Tāmaki Makaurau are lifted
on 15 December.
Following discussions with local iwi
and community, Police will set up and
manage two
short-term controlled checkpoints south of Whangārei once
the
northern boundary is disbanded.
These
checkpoints will be located on State Highway 1 at Uretiti
and the
second on State Highway 12 near
Maungaturoto and will focus on northbound
traffic
only.
Police will be very mindful of traffic flows,
but the public can expect they
may be stopped and
spoken to by Police to ensure they are abiding by
the
requirements of the Public Health Order. This
means travellers into the
region will need to show
proof of vaccination status or a negative
COVID-19
test. The rules around this are on the
COVID-19 website for travel at the Red
and Orange
settings under the Covid-19 Protection
Framework.
These checkpoints will operate 24/7 short
term, Police will then move to a
new model which
will involve having random checkpoints and spot checks
across
the District to check that people are
continuing to comply with the
travel
restrictions.
In total, Police will
have 74 staff working on a roster to operate
the
checkpoints on a 24/7 basis. The staff for
these checkpoints will come from
both Northland and
other Police Districts. As we have done previously
with
the existing Auckland borders, we are able to
deploy staff from other
districts to support this
work. This ensures we can meet other demands
on
police as we do for all popular holiday spots
during the summer months.
Police will be stopping the
vehicles, and Tai Tokerau Border Control will
be
assisting us to check vaccine passes and or
proof of a negative COVID19 test,
to ensure as
smooth and quick as possible a process through
the
checkpoints. We are mindful that traffic
through this region is normally
busy at this time
of year and motorists will know they need to plan
their
trip and be prepared.
The checkpoints
will not be stopping every car and will not hold up
traffic
unnecessarily or impede essential travel
but travellers should be prepared
and expect to be
stopped.
Police are looking forward to welcoming
visitors to Northland safely and in a
way that will
help protect vulnerable
communities.