Nearly 250 Waimate residents turned out in force on Friday afternoon to protest proposed changes to policing in the district.
Packing into the Waimate Event Centre, residents heard from Canterbury district metro commander Superintendent Lane Todd and Aoraki area commander Inspector Vicki Walker about plans to restructure police in the Aoraki area, including Waimate.
The meeting was led by Waimate Mayor and former police officer Craig Rowley, who said key concerns for the community included the erosion of community safety, loss of local knowledge and impact on Waimate’s vulnerable population.
Mr Rowley said Waimate was a big district and a reduction in police presence could have potential impacts on civil defence and emergency management, as Waimate was easily isolated in an emergency situation.
Insp Walker told the meeting that the police commissioner had been clear that police needed to return to their core business — how best to provide 24/7 services.
She said the proposal was that two rural liaison officers would be embedded in the Waimate community and the public safety team, based in Timaru, would be the staff that were available 24/7, awake and ready to go when things went bad.
‘‘We’re not leaving Waimate, we’re making sure that you still have the face of your police here.
‘‘This is not about withdrawing from rural policing.’’
Supt Todd said police at present spent a lot of time with mental health and family violence issues, which took police away from core business.
Concerns were raised about back-up for other emergency services in Waimate — the Waimate Volunteer Fire Brigade and Hato Hone St John — and Mr Rowley said if police were pulling back from dealing with mental health issues, that left no-one.
‘‘Mental health services, they don’t exist in Waimate.’’
A resident of 25 years, Wendy Heath, agreed, saying police were the only port of call until the government put structures in place.
‘‘I don’t see anything happening in that realm, so you [police] pulling back means a gap in the services that our community needs.
‘‘When things go pear-shaped, you are the people we look to for help and until something else is in place, this feels unsafe for our community.’’
Waimate’s Chief Fire Officer Steve Pali said brigade members attended a lot of incidents where there was a threat to them and the number seemed to be increasing.
‘‘Quite often we are waiting [for police back-up]. Are we going to be waiting longer?’’
