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A notice pinned to the door of the Mahurangi Police Station in Snells Beach says it will be temporarily closed.
Volunteers have been stood down at two local Police stations after a national health and safety directive was issued following an assault on a volunteer at a South Auckland station.The new policy came into effect on April 15 and has impacted volunteers at the Mahurangi Police Station in Snells Beach and at the Mangawhai Community Policing Centre.
Police at Warkworth and Wellsford would not comment on the changes, saying they weren’t allowed to speak to the media about national Police policy.
Waitemata Area Commander Inspector Mark Fergus says the volunteers ensure the stations are staffed when Police are out on the beat and they take reports on minor offences and lost property, forward messages to Police and give crime prevention advice.
“A safety audit identified that this places these community-minded volunteers at some risk from aggressive visitors, and that to mitigate this risk, Police would no longer use volunteers on the front counters at these locations,” Inspector Fergus says.
“The Police officers at these locations are front line operational constables whose duties often take them away from the station. Advances in mobile technology mean they are no longer tied to a physical location, but this leaves the volunteers alone at the station, often for extended periods.
“Police officers continue to work from Mangawhai and Mahurangi stations. They are able to be contacted when on duty through either Wellsford or Warkworth Police Station, if the station is unattended.”
Snells Beach volunteers are determined to keep the service going and continue to run the station, albeit with the doors locked.
Volunteers work at the station from 10am to 2pm each day. Volunteer coordinator Lesley Leversha says she hopes the station will reopen once better security measures are installed.
“The group of seven volunteers are looking at it as a temporary measure and steps have been taken to make it a safer place,” Ms Leversha says. “We are continuing as normal but with the door shut. We can still answer the phone and do our neighbourhood support work.”
Ms Leversha says the volunteers think the move is “a bit over the top”, but they are doing what they can under the circumstances.
“We appreciate it was done for our benefit, but we didn’t think there was a need for it. We’ve never felt threatened at any time. But society is changing. I think the local Police were more upset than we were.”
The station was built by the community about 20 years ago and also serves as the Civil Defence radio shack for the area.
Volunteers at the Mangawhai Station had been manning the station from 9.30am to 12.30pm each day, but volunteers at Mangawhai have been unable to be reached for comment. The phone at the Mangawhai station was re-directed to the Waitemata Police headquarters in Orewa.
