Holidays keep police busy

Forty additional police officers were brought into Rodney over the Christmas New Year holiday period to help local officers cope with the annual influx of visitors and several large music festivals.

Acting area commander Senior Sergeant Roger Small credits the larger police presence with the relatively incident-free result.

“Extra staff were rostered on and we really needed them,” he said. “It was a busy period up until the weather changed. Once the rain came, things calmed down a bit.”

Small says police responded to the usual range of issues from family harm, disorderly behaviour and alcohol-related incidents to road policing.

There were also a number of water-related issues, including the death of an overseas visitor at Goat Island, who drowned while snorkelling.

Small says behaviour at the local festivals was excellent.

“Organisers were professional and had good security in place. The concern at the Matakana Country Park is always what is happening further afield, and the danger to pedestrians on Leigh Road, particularly if they have been drinking.”

In contrast to previous years, New Year’s eve in Mangawhai had a “good vibe” with nothing to cause concern.

Despite the high national road toll, Small said drivers in the district were mostly well behaved and patient, even when there were long queues between Warkworth and Orewa, taking drivers an hour-and-a-half to two hours to cover the distance.

“You will always get the odd few, though. Disappointingly, we had one driver caught doing 140kph in a 100kph area when the weather was appalling.”