A Wellington police boat Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Wellington maritime police no longer operating 24/7
Wellington's maritime police are no longer responding 24/7 to help boats in trouble or to respond to crimes on the water.
The team has had a 60 percent cut to their operational hours and will now only be available from 9am to 6pm most days.
Police said it will save money, but critics like Geoff Marsland said it will cost lives.
Marsland has sailed the world and seen all sorts of conditions but said the worst seas to be found weren't far from his doorstep.
"You leave Wellington you turn right, and you go three miles to the west and there's Kiroroi rip," he said.
It was off the southern shore of Wellington when his engine filters failed, and he needed the maritime police.
"It was just getting dark, I had two little kids on board... the nor' west got up to about 30 knots and by calling the Lady Liz within like twenty minutes they were there and took me into a tow into the wharf. The next day I cleaned the filters, and I was fine," he recounted.
A version of the police boat Lady Elizabeth, nicknamed 'Lady Liz', has patrolled the shores of Wellington and rescued boaties for over 80 years, including finding missing diver Rob Hewitt, brother of ex-All Black Norm Hewitt, who'd been lost at sea for three days before the Lady Elizabeth crew found him in 2006.
Marsland said the decision to pull back the police maritime service was crazy.
"It's ridiculous, this is Cook Strait and Wellington! Within not long there will totally be casualties," he said.
Know something about this story? Email libby.kirkby-mcleod@rnz.co.nz
Wellington Acting District Commander Inspector Nick Thom said in the last two years, police had needed the service during the night only once.
He thought the new hours had things covered.
"We looked at a range of data and when the Liz was being deployed to incidents, and the main demand picture has told us it's that 9am to 6pm time," he said.
However, a sworn police officer involved with the maritime unit said when they are called it's usually life or death.
He questioned whether the money saved is really worth it.
"There're managers within the organisation who go 'well look, we are willing to wear the risk.' And it's like 'well, are you? Are you going to stand up in front of the media and the public and say 'yep, that person died because we saved $90,000 this year,'?"
When the maritime police officers were asked for feedback, they overwhelmingly rejected the decrease in hours.
"Staff expressed concern that the proposed changes would negatively impact public safety and erode trust in police," the decision report said in a summary of feedback.
"The perception that the unit may be unavailable during emergencies could damage its reputation and reduce community confidence," continued the feedback.
Paul Gubb had been boating around Wellington commercially for 40 years. He said he always felt safer on the water knowing the Lady Elizabeth and her crew were there.
"When you are a water person, and a lot of Wellingtonians are, this is something we pay for and they can cut something else but don't cut our wharf police," he said.
Several officers gave feedback that they would consider leaving the maritime unit or the police entirely due to the changes.
"I would acknowledge the submissions raised a range of concerns but ultimately it's been determined that those concerns are not outweighed by the need to prioritize our resources and where they will have the biggest impact," said Thom.
Outside of operational hours search and rescue will be the responsibility of Coastguard.
Thom said this comes at a cost to police as if police deploy Coastguard, they pay Coastguard to do that work.
But Thom still believed it was an overall saving for the police, which he put at around $130,000 annually.
"What the data has told us is there have been 1% callouts for the night standby period over the last 12 months which would indicate its going to be a very low callout percentage for Coastguard."
A Coastguard spokesperson told RNZ they remain on-call 24/7, ready to respond and assist those on the water whenever needed around Wellington with 70 active volunteers and two dedicated rescue vessels - Reremoana and Spirit of Wellington.
"Our crews often leave work, family, study, or other commitments when a call for help comes in, which means our response times may be slightly slower than those of the Wellington Police Maritime Unit," they said.
But Coastguard was confident it could provide an effective search and rescue response across the region.
John Bryant was in the Wellington police maritime unit for 24 years, nine as an officer in charge.
He saw the change as a cut to frontline policing.
"The history of these constables is that they are frontline police, they wear the blue. They are policeman first and mariners second," he said.
He thought the Wellington public should be concerned about what they have lost.
"For decades police have [been there], and as a result there are many many people who are alive today because of that level of service."
The current police officer involved with the unit said the crew did many frontline policing duties on the water.
"It's not just search and rescue, we work with customs, and MPI, and the defence force and the local harbourmaster; we've worked with immigration before, mental health... any kind of incident on a ferry or another vessel that requires a tactical response, other agencies won't take tactical teams."
A Coastguard spokesperson confirmed that as a volunteer-powered charity, Coastguard's sole purpose was to save lives on the water.
"We do not carry out any Police work or act as law enforcement of any kind. In this regard, we cannot provide the same operational scope as the Wellington Police Maritime Unit. While we work closely together, our focus is solely on search and rescue."
Police told RNZ the decision will be formally reviewed in a few months' time to see the effect of the changes.
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