15 March 2019

Media: Daily Post

Topic: CBD summer safety campaign

Enquiry

I'm just looking for a bit of confirmation, quite urgently on the city summer safety campaign.

In December, Rotorua police and Rotorua Lakes Council jointly launched a central city summer safety campaign after complaints from businesses and police survey results showed many people felt unsafe in the inner city at night.

This included police, security staff and the Safe City Guardians increasing their presence in the inner city and patrolled the streets together whenever possible between 8amand 4am and more frequent monitoring of the council's CCTV footage from Thursdays to Sundays, with daily briefings for staff.

Could I please have confirmation from the council as soon as possible about when this summer safety campaign ended? Is it likely to be reinstated?

Response

Firstly we just need to correct something in your initial enquiry - complaints from businesses were not what prompted the joint police/RLC summer safety campaign for the CBD. The initiative was largely prompted by the police perceptions of safety survey - as was explained when the initiative was first announced in December (see HERE on Council's website).

Just to recap: the initiative has involved increased CCTV monitoring and increased presence in the CBD by Council's Safe City Guardians, security staff and police staff through regular joint patrols for extended hours. Daily joint briefings which have been held since the initiative started in December have provided the opportunity for the Guardians, security staff and police to share information and discuss relevant matters.

The aim was to provide a safe and friendly inner city environment for businesses, their staff and the public by deterring anti-social and criminal behaviour and dealing promptly with any emerging issues or incidents.

Since the patrols began there has been a noticeable reduction in anti-social and criminal behaviour in the CBD with very positive feedback from both members of the public and businesses.

Operations Group Manager Henry Weston can confirm that in light of the success of the initiative to date, joint patrols will continue through the winter months although at a slightly reduced level, as appropriate to what is required. Increased CCTV monitoring will continue, as will the daily briefings