Source: Radio New Zealand
Karangahape Road will be one of three new underground stations on the City Rail Link. Supplied: CRL
A specialist police force will be needed to patrol deep below Auckland’s streets on the new City Rail Link, says a city councillor.
Transport officers and Māori wardens currently patrol public transport, but do not have the power to arrest anyone – which is why some have called for a dedicated police force.
But the police said there were no plans for such a move.
Manukau ward councillor and former police officer Alf Filipaina said with Auckland’s billion dollar transport project opening later this year, safety needed to be a priority.
“What happens when the police have been called to a serious incident somewhere else, and there’s a serious incident in the tunnels? That’s what I want to make sure – that the conversation be had.”
The City Rail Link will have three new underground stations: in the Auckland CBD, Karangahape road and Mount Eden.
Transport officers, like private security guards, had no special powers to arrest suspected criminals.
They have a role to play in policing the new train stations, but they could only do so much, Filipaina said.
“If you haven’t got the ability to arrest and you’re in the tunnel, you just need to wait for the police. Sometimes you don’t have that time or opportunity to do that.”
Auckland Transport incident and experience manager Mike McCann said transport officers provided a visible presence on public transport and checked for people trying to get a free ride, but could only respond to anti-social behaviour by observing and reporting it to the police.
National coordinator of the public transport users association Jon Reeves said his group had been calling for a dedicated transport police force in Auckland for years, and with the City Rail Link close to opening it was more important than ever.
“We’re going to have a mass increase over the next two years of users onto public transport, and that includes users who don’t actually want to get on there and be good New Zealand citizens.
“There’s some that want to do some things which are a little untoward and could be very bad and so that’s why we do need to have some action now.”
Tramways and Public Transport Employees union president Gary Froggatt agreed.
“It would provide more protection, more security, safety. They’d also have the ability to monitor fares, etc. Currently there’s thousands and thousands of dollars lost in the system through people not paying their fares.”
But Police Association president Steve Watt did not support the idea.
“At the end of the day, the police have a limited number of staff which they can deploy to deal with situations, and if police permanently based someone on the Auckland Transport network that means something else has got to give.
The City Rail Link stations may pose extra risk, but police would be able to manage that under the current beat policing approach, he said.
“By its very nature in being underground, obviously there will be some difficulties in potentially reaching certain areas, but I’m sure that between Auckland Transport and police they’ll be able to work those out.”
Auckland City crime prevention manager Inspector Grant Tetzlaff said police would continue to focus on being highly visible in high profile and busy public spaces including the City Rail Link.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
