Canty police to lose 36 positions

Press, 29 August 1989, Page 1

Canty police to lose 36 positions

By

NIGEL MALTHUS

Canterbury-Westland police commanders are confident of minimising the effect of staffing level cuts announced yesterday. The region will lose 36 positions, dropping from 823 to 787. The regional commander, Assistant Commissioner Emmett Mitten, said yesterday that the cuts had. been chosen to minimise the effect on front-line policing. They would not prevent the police from responding to emergencies and the investigation of serious crime in an efficient and effective manner. Because the cuts coincided with a move towards community policing, the public could actually see more police out and about than before, particularly in smaller centres, said Mr Mitten. “Strategies that are now in place and which are further being developed in the commun-ity-orientated style of policing should keep the effects of the cuts to a minimum and ensure that services are maintained.” The Christchurch City district will carry the bulk of the region’s cuts, losing 24 of the 36 positions to go. The Christchurch Rural district will lose five, one from Ashburton and two each from Lyttelton and Hornby. Rangiora will escape without cuts. The South Canterbury district will lose four, all from the Timaru station, while the West Coast district will lose three, two

from Greymouth and ■ one from Westport. Mr Mitten said he was not happy to have to make the cuts, but Canterbury had not fared as badly as Auckland and Wellington. Of 267 police positions to be cut nationally, the Auckland region will lose 80 and the Wellington region 181. The Wellington figure includes five to go from the Nelson police district. Two will go from Nelson and three from Blenheim while country stations such as Kaikoura escape the cuts. The Christchurch City district commander, Chief Superintendant Ron Melrose, said the emphasis was on administrative rather than front-line positions. The entire crime control unit, with 11 positions, would be scrapped, however. Mr Melrose said the unit, known unofficially at one stage as the “Starsky and Hutch” unit, was established in the late 1970 s and worked in “the rougher type of plain clothes and the rougher type of plain cars.” By mixing with the criminal element at the grass-roots level, it had been quite successful but was expensive on manpower, and had not been used for some time. Similar schemes could still be mounted from time to time, however. The team policing unit, formed to respond quickly to violent or disorderly incidents, would also lose five positions — about a

third of its strength. Mr Melrose emphasised that the cuts were “positions, not bodies.” In the two months since the staffing cuts exercise began, the city district had already lost eight people by transfer or retirement. Mr Mitten was confident that regional staff numbers would fall to the required levels well before the June, 1990, deadline, without the need for forced redundancies or early retirement. Mr Melrose said it had been a difficult job deciding which positions were to go. “Mainly,.we looked at what we didn’t want to be cut.” Areas such as the crime cars, youth aid and education programmes, the suburban stations and community constables were left alone, as were C. 1.8. speciallist squads. A combined policing unit, of C. 1.8. and uniformed staff — who traditionally worked separately — would help cover cuts in the uniformed inquiries section. Mr Melrose said the public might notice a slower response time in some circumstances, and the police would not rush to every job. Studies had shown, however, that only a small percentage of calls actually required immediate response, and calls to life-threat-ening situations, or burglaries where the offender was still on the premises, would be dealt with quickly, as in the past. Reaction, page 3.