Auckland CBD's community engagement model could be used in suburbs
Police Minister Mark Mitchell says a similar model of community engagement as was done in the central city could be implemented in Northcote.
Photo:
RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Social housing, rough sleepers and police responsiveness have been flagged as priorities for Auckland's Northcote community, after a meeting with the police minister this week.
The meeting at the Northcote Birkenhead rugby club on Monday night brought together residents and business owners with Police Minister Mark Mitchell, as well as local MP Dan Bidois, police district commander Naila Hassan and other police staff.
Mitchell told RNZ the community said to him that they had noticed a change.
"I've literally done hundreds of these public meetings around the country over the last few years, and the nice thing is for me is they seem to getting more and more positive in terms of, people are starting to see and notice a real difference in terms of, certainly, on the law and order and pubic safety side of it," he said.
Mitchell said managing rough sleepers was a wide issue.
"It's been around for a while, we've been working on that in the CBD too," he said.
"Often, many of these people have actually got safe homes and beds to go to, it's more of a lifestyle choice where they're coming together as a community, and of course there's all the social issues around them, not only can they cause issues themselves but they can become targets too, for those coming into the CBD."
Community members also raised concerns over some residents in local Kāinga Ora housing, with Mitchell focusing on those who did not live up to the "social contract that they have when they're provided tax-payer funded housing".
"The government's been far more proactive in making sure that there is actually action taken against those people, because they do cause massive issues in the communities they're in," Mitchell said.
There was an expectation that residents in social housing make their communities as safe and harmonious as they could, he said.
When it came to the prioritisation of police callouts, a concern voiced by a local shopkeeper, Mitchell said officers had to put greater risk callouts first.
"Of course police always have to prioritise, and they always have had to prioritise, it'll be based on risk to human life first and foremost, and then they sort of start working down from there," he said.
Mitchell said a similar model of community engagement as was done in the central city could be implemented in Northcote.
"I said the model that we used for the Auckland CBD was very effective, and that was bringing all the stakeholders together," he said.
"I suggested that [MP for Northcote] Dan Bidois take the lead on that, get everyone together; local board, business associations, residents and ratepayers associations or residents' associations, and the government agencies if they need them, make up a list of what the biggest issues are, and concerns and just start working through it."
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