The Police Area Commander, Kent Holdsworth, has said he will be coming to Raglan to listen to local concerns about senior management not providing adequate Police over the recent holiday period. At the last meeting of the Raglan Community Board, Raglanders heard how the slack was picked up by the volunteer fire brigade, who were untrained to deal with crime. Local Rick Thorpe said police numbers didn’t match the increase in population. he added, “We just swell to about 10,000 people plus the campground and all the accommodation places, so the ratio becomes distorted.”
The Raglanders who raised the lack of Police in Raglan this summer with the Community Board were former Raglan officer Kevin Holmes, Lorraine Dillon, and Kathy Gilbert. Lorraine served in London with the Metropolitan Police in a senior management role. Kathy was a former Volunteer Watchhouse officer who retired last year after seven and a half years service. Kathy is continuing as Raglan Neighbourhood Support area coordinator working alongside Raglan Police. While praising the local officers they were critical of Police Management who haven’t listened to repeated requests for more support around New Years in particular. This led to the greatest amount of unrest the town has seen for 10 years over the summer break with regular breaches of the liquor ban.
Inspector Holdsworth said that more staff were deployed in Raglan during the summer break, and extra police were called to respond to the two incidents on Boxing Day. He appears to be saying that the three permanent constables get enough support from cars sent from the other side of the divvy. That isn’t the view of Raglan locals. Holdsworth has justified the staffing levels saying they are determined according to reported incidents, population levels and what had happened in earlier years.
Census population levels don’t show Raglan’s true population during the holiday period. Also as the Stats Department includes Upper Wainui and the Whaanga Coast areas in its ‘Te Uku’ area, even the ‘Raglan’ census figures give a poor indication of Raglan’s population. So it seems Police mangement may be basing their decisions on the wrong information.
Inspector Holdsworth has said he will visit Raglan to talk with local emergency services, residents and the community board about their concerns. I hope as well as talking that he does some listening. No date or venue has been announced for the visit.