Police – Staying in touch

There is a saying, and I’m sure many of you will have heard it, that you can never find a policeman when you need one. One of the things I hear quite often is that many of you become frustrated when you pick up the phone, call the station number, get a call centre and can’t speak to a local officer.This week I’m writing about how to get the best out of the various contact methods for your police. In Warkworth, we have never had more police staff and they are every bit as accessible as in the past. The trick is understanding how to best access the services we provide. Between the hours of 8am and 4pm, Monday to Friday, the front counter at the station is staffed by a Frontline Station Support Officer.

A great many of you will have met Celia Baker, who has been the police’s public facing presence here at Warkworth Station for a great many years. Celia is on hand to record complaints, take messages for police staff, dole out commonsense advice or, when needed, she will call a police officer to speak to anyone who needs one. In addition, she is a document certifier, so she is the go-to lady for those of you who need a certified copy of a document for official purposes.

Very occasionally, for reasons of staff absence beyond anyone’s control, the station will be closed on a week-day but that is the exception rather than the rule. For people who wish to telephone the police, the simple rule of thumb is this:

• If it’s something you think the police would like to know, then call the ‘105’ line. That’s it.
  Dial 105 and a police call centre will record the information you wish to impart and pass it on to the correct department within the police
• The *555 telephone number is for urgent, but not life threatening, driving incidents. Something like a non-injury car crash or the ‘cow on the road’ scenario
• And, finally, on the telephone number front, there is 111. If it’s something that you feel the police need to take immediate action on the number to call, as it’s always been, is 111 and ask for police

The other way to contact the police, and for many people it is perhaps the best, is the police website 105.police.govt.nz. I say it’s often the best because writing something down usually allows people to concentrate their thoughts on what it is they want to say, resulting in a well thought out, accurate account. We look forward to hearing from you.