Bex Green: Federated Farmers North Canterbury president on the proposal to shut down rural police stations

There's disappointment Canterbury communities weren't consulted on a proposal to shut down rural Police stations. 

Police are looking to reduce personnel, disestablishing some rural roles in favour of larger 24/7 hubs based in Rolleston and Rangiora. 

Federated Farmers North Canterbury president Bex Green told Mike Hosking the community's heard about it via the media. 

She says their Police live in their area and know their people, and if you lose that in a rural community it has a huge impact. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I've got some community ganngst over proposals to cut more

(00:02):
rural police were in Canterbury where consultations underway on restructuring
to a more centralized model. So they're looking to favor
twenty four seven hubs in places like Rolliston and Rangua,
which of course are booming. Begscreen is the president of
Fed Farmers North Canterbury and as with.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Us bex morning, good morning, how are you very well?

Speaker 1 (00:18):
So we're talking colvid at least in those sort of
areas right cret Okay, So do you know what's going on?
Because I heard yesterday someone's going, oh my god, they're
going to close down Arthur's Path. Arthur's Pass hasn't had
a cop in it for two years, so why wouldn't
you close it down.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Look, they're looking at changing or reducing a lot of
areas in rural Crane's Canterbury. So for the likes of
colvidin we have two police officers there, they will be
disestablished and take entering Euroe.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
The argument is that just because you close a police
station doesn't mean you're not going to have someone on
the beat. Do you accept that or is that a
possibility or no?

Speaker 2 (00:55):
I absolutely don't accept it. Our police live in our community,
They know the people in the understand the community. If
you lose that in a rural community, it's a huge impact. Right.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
So where are you at with the police and what
are the police saying to you as opposed to what
they think they can do and what they will do.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
That's a good question. We were not consulted or the
community was not consulted prior to hearing this in the media,
so we're obviously quite disappointed. Since then, we have I
have spoken to Tony Hill. He is coming to our
community meetings on Wednesday up in Culberan and obviously we'd
like to ask him a lot of questions.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah, you can't blame you can't blame them in theory.
I mean Rollinson rangure is booming and therefore more people,
more cops. So you can see why they're focusing on
those areas, can't you.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
Oh but that doesn't mean that you should take away
the real police in our royal communities.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
No, So what sort of timeframe we're dealing on this?
When do we need to bring your back back and
work out what's going on here?

Speaker 2 (01:54):
Look, the submissions are closed or the two week consultation
with the staff is next Wednesday, the thirteenth of July.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
In that time the community can write some missions and
we obviously have our community meeting technique this Wednesday, where
we hopefully can get some answers to the questions that
we have around how our communities and then I guess
from there we'll find.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
Out all right, We'll stay in touch. Becks apreciate it.
Backs Green, president of Fed Farmers in North Canterbury. For
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