Council axes funding for Omaha security service

Omaha Beach residents are challenging an Auckland Council decision not to back an Omaha security initiative, which has been hailed by Police as a model of collaborative community safety.

Warkworth company Insite Security has been employed to provide added community security services for the past four years, but Council says it won’t provide a $10,000 funding contribution or renew warrants for the company to act on Council’s behalf, in relation to a number of bylaw issues.

Omaha Beach Community Inc. (OBC) president Graham Painter says the service is largely community funded, with the $10,000 Council previously provided representing around 30 percent of the cost.

He says Omaha faces the same issues as other Auckland communities including crime, youth offending, liquor, litter and noise, but the services available to deal with them are quite different to those in urban areas.

“The scheme was initiated because Omaha is a community within a rural area where normal Police and Council resources to provide an appropriate service are either stretched or don’t exist.”

Mr Painter says for example, while Council’s target time for noise control response at Omaha is 45 minutes, a recent call out took staff an hour and 45 minutes to attend.

Council’s licensing and compliance manager Carole Todd says because amalgamation occurred during the middle of the financial year, Council initially honoured Rodney District Council funding and warrant arrangements for Omaha, even though they were not consistent with the rest of the region.

She says Council already provides after-hours noise and dog control services, and enforcement of open fires and littering offences on the beach is not currently part of Council’s emergency after-hours service anywhere within the region. The potential need for enforcement funding of those bylaws is being assessed, and if deemed necessary, would be applied region-wide.

“Warrants will not be issued to Insite Security as the types of incidents it wishes to enforce are either dealt with by NZ Police, covered by existing Council staff or contractors; or are not enforceable by Council at all,” she says.

Rodney Local board member Tracey Martin says an OBC application for funding under the community grants scheme was turned down by the board because it did not meet  grant criteria, but she has personally written to Council chief executive Doug MacKay requesting that the Rodney council legacy payment be honoured and warrants renewed.

A former policeman and an Omaha resident, Insite Security owner Chris Martin (no relation to Tracey) says his staff act as a “filter”, assessing incidents of public disorder in the first instance and either resolving them or calling for police back up, saving police time.

“Similarly, with incidents like noise control, instead of waiting for a Council officer who might be two or three hours away, we can go and get things settled down before it becomes a drunken melee on the front lawn,” he says.

In a letter of support for the service to Mrs Martin, Sergeant Bede Haughey, of Warkworth Police, pointed out that Insite Security recently received a Police Area Commander’s award for services to community safety, including its work at Omaha.

He said Warkworth Police recognised about four years ago that its resources could not cope with the influx of thousands of visitors to Omaha over summer.

Sgt Haughey said calls to Police had “dropped significantly” since the service was introduced because as ‘first responder’, Insite often resolved issues without the need for police intervention.

“We have enjoyed a close working relationship for several years and this collaborative approach to community safety is a model that other areas envy.”

Mr Painter says private security arrangements will continue in Omaha and the community group will continue to lobby for Council support.

“We do not accept that the matter is final.”

Pictured: Auckland Council is refusing to issue further warrants to Insite Security’s Chris Martin.