Safe City Guardians
Safe City Guardians work as part of our Safe City Team to:
- Provide visibility, responsiveness and reassurance
- Deter anti-social behaviour
- Educate and encourage adherence to Council bylaws
- Connect vulnerable persons (i.e. rough sleepers) with social services where possible and move them on when needed
- Advise relevant departments on damage/vandalism to Council structures and properties
- Escalate issues to Police as needed.
Our team of Safe City Guardians also work as a roving link between Council, central business district (CBD) businesses and visitors. They help Council better understand and meet changing community needs, and to make it as easy as possible to interact with Council.
They provide an approachable, flexible and knowledgeable ambassadorial presence in the CBD. This helps with the collection and distribution of information about events, safety, parking, innercity news, city maintenance requirements, and surveys.
The Safe City team also monitor the CCTV cameras that are set up around the city. More information about CCTV in Rotorua is below.
Areas our Safe City Guardians patrol
Staff members will patrol within the geographic boundary of the Rotorua CBD (see the map above). This includes the lakefront, Government Gardens, Kuirau Park, Energy Events Centre, Central Mall and skate park areas. They can answer a range of queries from visitors and the general public including:
- The provision of directions
- Information on attractions
- The location of banks or ATMs
- Some basic history of the area.
An added bonus of this sevice is that staff act as "eyes and ears" in the community and report anything suspicious to police using their supplied mobile phones.
