Source: Radio New Zealand
123rf.com
Requiring police officers to shift rough sleepers from one place to another could see other crime work delayed or dropped, the Police Association’s boss says.
The government is giving officers new powers to move on rough sleepers or people displaying disorderly behaviour in town and city centres.
Breaching an order, which requires someone to leave an area for up to 24 hours, risks a fine of up to $2000 or three month jail term.
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith and Police Minister Mark Mitchell said it will be left to police officers to decide what support a person needs, if any.
Prime Minister Luxon told Morning Report police were capable of doing that.
But Police Association boss Steve Watt told Midday Report the police have limited resources, and it was unclear how big a job it would be to get people off the street and into a social agency.
Police Association boss Steve Watt. RNZ/ Phil Pennington
“Until we just get that detail it’s really tough to gauge, but there’s no doubt that it will have a drain on policing resources.
“It means that potentially someone won’t have a cop turn up to their burglary, or they’ll be delayed, because they’re having to deal with this issue.”
Watt said there were already laws in place to deal with disorderly behaviour.
“What we’re talking about here is individuals that have got a multitude of issues, mental health, financial, housing, and you’ve gotta ask the question, are the police the right agency … to deal with this, or should it be some other social agency?”
It was also unclear how far people had to be moved, Watt said.
“Rough sleepers have a lot of property sometimes, shopping carts full of it, so is it an expectation of our members to wheel the cart down with the beggar down the street … just to simply displace the problem?”
Emails released to RNZ show the Mitchell had expressed a reluctance towards police leading a homelessness response in central Auckland, and expected other agencies to “step up and own” social issues.
In the email, dated 5 November, a staff member said: “Feel it is important just to flag that Minister Mitchell does not believe that police has a leadership role in this and has in the past ended up picking up the work of other agencies, which stretches their resources in other areas.”
Watt agreed.
“In reality, it’s not a policing problem, it’s an all-of-society problem, and that’s the way we need to start looking at it.”
Move on orders deal with disruption and disturbance, ministers say
Goldsmith said New Zealand’s main streets and town centres had been “blighted” by disruption and disturbance, with businesses “declining” as bad behaviour went unchecked.
He said police officers currently had limited options to respond, particularly if behaviour did not reach the level of offending, leading to “disruptive, distressing and potentially harmful acts”.
Social agencies have widely condemned the move, saying shifting people around cities would do nothing to solve homelessness or mental health and addiction problems that many rough sleepers were dealing with.
But Auckland business leaders welcomed it, saying it would make the city centre safer and a more desirable place to be.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
