Rod Gabb: Epsom Community Patrol Leader on their need for funding and the influence of community efforts on crime levels

An Auckland community patrol is seeking more funding amidst ongoing crime and demand.  

Epsom Community Patrol is putting out the plea, along with asking more locals to volunteer for patrols seven days a week.  

Patrol Leader Rod Gabb says central Epsom is particularly rife with crime, which can't be reduced without a collective effort.  

He told Mike Hosking that a report from the Onehunga station said that crime in Epsom was down 10% month on month, and while he wouldn’t say it’s totally due to community patrols, he would say they’re a factor. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's look at the rise of the community patrol. So
we've got one hundred and seventy of them across the country.
These days police say they rely heavily on them when
dealing with the rise and crime. Ipsom, which is an
Auckland suburb, has a well established one and founder and
leader Rod gab is with us road. Very good morning,
Good morning Mike. How long you've been going and how
successful are you?

Speaker 2 (00:17):
We started off in May twenty two and we started
patrolling in December twenty two, so we're be going patrolling
for the last six months.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
And when you say patrolling, what literally do you do?

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Literally we do. We are the minimum of two of
us on a shift on a patrol and we head
out anywhere between two two to four hours or about
two to three hours, and we literally patrol the suburbs
and the streets, both businesses and residences around Ipsom, Renuer, Newmarket,
Parnell up to Royal Oak and West East Mount Eden.

(00:49):
So we've got a large patch.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Well, I was going to say you're you're on wheels,
not on foot.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
I take it. We've got a combination, so mainly wheels,
but there's a number of areas that we do by
foot as well, Mike. So we're taking around the bus
association there is we we tend to get on our
feet and do that. And likewise, in some of the
parks out in the suburbs, we'll walk around the parks
of an evening with a torch and just make sure
when it's under control.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
And what if it's not as well, what do you
do then?

Speaker 2 (01:14):
What we do then is we get straight on. If
it's serious enough, we will get straight into the police.
We'll call one one one or in a recent case,
I actually called them the new Market stations says hey, guys,
you need to get up here on the Broadway. We've
got it an inst and unfolding that we need support,
and we had we had four patrol cars and there
in a matter of minutes, about ten minutes.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
Are you in danger ever?

Speaker 2 (01:33):
No, not at this junction. No, because we are not.
We're not trained and we're not engaged with criminal activity.
If we said unfolding, we stay in our wagon and
we get onto the police.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
Right and so you don't, you know, go wait or
something like that.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
We don't, we don't, we don't, we don't really will
We prefer to observe and then report it and get
it sort of that way, because as I say, we
don't we're not trained to arrest or to confront people.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
And do you have recruitment issues and people? I mean,
two to three hours is a lot, and that's the
first question I would ask, you know, am I going
to get beaten up? Et cetera? And you need to
convince me that I'm not.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
It's very very safe. We have we do training. We
have an on learing training model MODUL. We were well
trained by the trainers in the organization. And as I say,
we've never been thus far in the six months that
we've been patrolling have we've been in the uncompromising position
of danger. So we've got a mixture of ages, guys

(02:31):
and girls, different cultures and you know, it's going well,
it's working well. We just need to reverse the numbers
from sixteen to sixty one.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
Yeah, exactly. Would you argue that crime is measurably down
or different because you're there along with the police.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
Well, I certainly read an article last night by Constable
Don Allen out of the Only Hanger station, who said
that crime is down ten percent month a month in
Only Hunger and EPSOM, And I wouldn't say that it's
totally due to us, but I'd say we'd be a
factor in.

Speaker 1 (02:59):
The fantastic rod Go. Well, that's good community stuff. I
like at Rod Gabb who's part of the EPSOM Community Patrol.
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