Viv Beck: Heart of the City CEO on the announcement of a 24/7 police station in Auckland CBD

Businesses say the new Central Auckland Police base is a positive step towards improving the city's safety.  

The new Federal Street station will be close to Aotea Square, making it easier to deploy officers right across the central city.  

Police plan to have it open to the public 24/7 by the middle of next year. 

Heart of the City's Viv Beck told Ryan Bridge that businesses have been after more police - especially with the City Rail Link opening soon.  

She says we want a vibrant, safe, international city, so there needs to be enough police. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, they're doing something right in Aukland, though, aren't they.
Business is happy. The police are moving back into the CBD.
There's going to be a new police station on Federal Street,
one hundred and seventy meters from the old police station,
which was closed a few years ago. Vivbs with Heart
of the City. Viv good morning, you're happy.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Good morning, very happy. Thank you.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
I'm get news, great news, But what about the detail.
How many police officers are going in here? How many
extra on the beat? Do you know?

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Well, the goal at the moment is these fifty one,
and I think we've got another eight to bring that
up to fifty one. We are noticing the difference from that.
But we have said all along that with the CRL
coming on board, we are going to need more because
at the moment we've got about a million people counted
walking around in the core central to the area every week.

(00:47):
But we've got people working, studying, visiting, you know, and
that's FORCUS to grow. So we are going to need more.
But I think, you know, one step at a time.
This is a piece of the safety solution we've been after.
It's a visibility presence right in the downtown area. And
actually that location is good because that station is expected

(01:11):
to be the busiest one in New Zealand. It's a
central location to get up to K Road downtown.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
How many people will you get through that station? Do
you know?

Speaker 2 (01:20):
Well, I think I mean the plans originally we're talking
about fifty four thousand an hour. That's when all those
extra crossings and things that they're talking about are up
and running and ranking optimally, So that'll take a little while,
but that is going to be a really busy area.
So you know, you probably weren't. I was a young
person in New York in the eighties when the set

(01:42):
when the underground was very very unsafe, only for being
there with my parents. We've got to get this safe,
and so having police in that location and having enough
of them is going to be important to actually get
the safety right right from the start.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Your hope that would be because you said there's about
eight more offices coming on the beach for this shop,
so you'd be hoping to actually increase that even further
once the station.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Over time, and we've raised that with police because we're
basically getting a terranean operation going there and it's important
that it starts off on the right footing. But at
the end of the day, having that location I think
is a great start. It will be and the New
Continent has seen himself. There will be an ongoing focus
in central safety safety and they're talking about other areas

(02:28):
as well. But you know, from our perspective, we want
to be a vibrant, safe, twenty four to seven international
city and you need enough police to create that safety.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
Thanks so much for your views this morning. Always appreciated.
Vive Beck with Heart of the City of the Chief Executive.
They are twenty three minutes after five. My question and
I'll answer my own question next, hopefully you can help me,
is where do all the crazies go once you kick
them out of the CBD For

Speaker 2 (02:57):
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