Nick Smith: Nelson Mayor on the fallout from Senior Sergeant Lynne Fleming's death

Tributes have been flowing in for Senior Sergeant Lynne Fleming who was allegedly murdered while on patrol in Nelson. 

A 32-year-old man has been charged and will appear in court today facing eight charges.

Yesterday police officers and first responders joined the Black Caps on the pitch in Nelson to pay tribute to Fleming.

Nelson Mayor Nick Smith joins the show. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
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Speaker 2 (00:16):
Yes and a man has been charged for the alleged
murder of policewoman Senior Sergeant Lynn Fleming. The thirty two
year old will at a peer in court today facing
eight charges. Lots of tributes for Fleming they have flowed
from the Nelson community, with flowers and candles left outside
the police station and the nation's flag at half mast. Yesterday,

(00:38):
police officers and first responders joined the Black Caps on
the pitch in Nelson to pay tribute to Fleming. And
Mayor of Nelson, Nick Smith is with us.

Speaker 3 (00:46):
Good morning, Yeah, good morning Tim.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
How is the community of Nelson fairing in the wake
of all this?

Speaker 3 (00:52):
All Nelson is reeling. This is the worst possible way
that we want to begin twenty twenty five. We pride
Nelson on being a very safe place and Sewing having
a police officer killed in the early hours of Year's
day doing their job of keeping our cities safe. And

(01:17):
it wasn't like it was an accident. You know, this
was a offender who deliberately drove into police not once,
but twice and that is just why the community is
really grieving. This is the very first time in Nelson's
history that a police officer has lost their life doing

(01:37):
their duty for New Zealand. It's the first loss of
a woman police officer. She'd given the over thirty five
plus year's service. Wasn't just a police this is a
woman who's given up her time as the netball coach
for Nelson College for Girls. And so you know, you
can just imagine in a small community like Nelson that

(02:00):
people just find it unbelievable. It was a wonderful thing
that the black Caps acknowledged it with the five thousand
people moments of silence at the cricket game. We have
a vigil tonight at our church steps at seven o'clock
of which I think there will be a big turnout
of people that just want to grieve and want to

(02:21):
communicate to the thousands of people that serve in the
New Zealand Police from one end of the country to
the other, that we feel the pain and the loss.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
And there's a candle that vigil plan for Lynn.

Speaker 4 (02:34):
Is it today or yes, it is this evening on
our church steps and that will be another opportunity there's
a huge gathering of flowers at the police station where
the flags.

Speaker 3 (02:47):
At half mask. Our own council flags are at half mask.
We've lit up our clock tower and blue as a
matter of respect for the police. But the truth is
that will take many months for our community to recover
from this plot.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
Obviously that there's lots of support being provided from within
the police. What's your role as mayor what do you
see your role being right now?

Speaker 3 (03:10):
Well, firstly, it's to be a spokesperson for the community
after such a tragic event. I was privileged to join
with the Police Minister and Police Commissioner who came down immediately.
They deserve credit for that and was briefed on the
scene and making sure that we are providing them with
all the support and the investigation. But also on your program,

(03:33):
want to encourage any Nelsonian that was there or has
got video to come forward to the police to ensure
that they have got all of the information and evidence
to be able to ensure our justice system holds the
person to account. And I think it's inevitable as me
around counsel that we will just need to see whether

(03:55):
there are any lessons to be learned from this tragedy
and how we make our central city a safe place.

Speaker 2 (04:03):
Is there a sense of I'm not sure what the
word I'm searching for here, but is there a sense
of relief that charges have actually been brought already?

Speaker 3 (04:13):
Well, I think there's disbelief that our police officer just
going about their duties. The overall New Year's celebrations that
we have in our central city are very safe. It's
the Central city up Trafalgar Street is an alcohol free area,
so I think there's the first emotion is one of
grief and disbelief that this could occur in our city.

(04:35):
I think there will be people are pleased that the
full range of charges are I'm particularly pleased that it
is a murder charge. When someone drives that speed deliberately
into police officers, they are not an accident. It is
using a vehicle as the weapon. I know the person's
a disqualified driver. I would want our community to respect

(04:57):
the justice system doing its job and making sure the
person is hold to account. But the main emotion in
our community at the moment is one of grief and disbelief.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
Nick, thanks so much for your time this morning. That's
Mayor of Nelson, Nick Smith, For.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
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