Pike River families: 'We've been down this road before'

Pike River families have told police they have a long way to go to rebuild trust as they prepare to reopen their investigation into the disaster.

Police top brass visited Greymouth last week to meet officials and family members of the 29 victims of the mine explosions.

Their original inquiry into the blasts of November 2010 ended in 2013 with no charges laid.

A spokesperson for some of the Pike River families, Bernie Monk, said he was pleased the investigation would be reopened.

But he said the families still have ill-feeling towards the police because of how they walked away five years ago.

"There's a lot of water to go under the bridge before we accept the police coming back into our lives," Mr Monk said.

Mr Monk said the families have always considered the mine to be a crime scene.

He told Morning Report the families had sat down with the police last week to work through some of the difficulties they had had with them in the past.

He said in the past police have not done everything they could to get to the bottom of what happened.