Police using ‘team unit'

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33959, 27 September 1975, Page 1

Police using ‘team unit'

A police unit organised on the same basis as Auckland's controversial task force has been working in Christchurch for several months.

When necessary, members of the Christchurch' squad use the same tactics as their Auckland counterparts.

The existence of the ‘'team policing unit” — as he prefers it to be called — was confirmed yesterday bv the commander of the Christchurch Police District (Chief Superintendent G. E. Twentyman).

Mr Twentyman said that the use of the term “task force” had drawn an emotive response in Auckland, and he did not want a similar controversy to arise in Christchurch. The Auckland task force, and its methods of operation, have been strongly criticised by several persons, including the Minister of Maori Affairs (Mr Rata). It has been called a “failure in law enforcement.” and a “disaster in community relations.” Mr Twentyman said that the team policing unit played a vital role in the prevention and detection of crime in Christchurch.

“It has proved most valuable, and without it there would be a definite drop in police effectiveness,” he said. The unit is under the command of the head of the uniformed branch of the Christchurch Police District (Superintendent J. A. Jamieson).

It varies in strength “according to the demands of situation,” Mr Twentyman said, and works most riights of the week. The unit was used mainly Ito deal wfith violence and i other crimes, in hotels and

..known trouble-spots . I Christchurch, he said 1 It also patrolled suburban ’I shopping centres and burgI lary-prone residential areas.