The downtown police station on Fort Street closed in 2013, with central Auckland headquarters moving to Freeman's Bay in 2019. Photo:
A building manager in downtown Auckland says safety measures put in place in the central city are not working, and that a brick and mortar police station is the key to making a difference.
Twenty-one more police have been patrolling the city centre since the start of July.
Robert Macfarlane is the building manager of 105 Queen Street, a grand, historic apartment building situated at the bottom of the main drag.
He had seen the extra patrols, but said something was still not right - with crime and disorder continuing in his neighbourhood.
"It's quite a heavily dense residential area, and the vibe on the street is - it's really quite unpleasant sometimes," Macfarlane said.
"There's a lot of low level agro."
Macfarlane said he had seen incidents including retail theft and a neighbour being robbed, and that he sometimes felt unsafe in his own neighbourhood.
"Having a neighbour attacked recently, that's made me wearier than I was before, you know, looking over my shoulder as I come and go, particularly after dark," he said.
Macfarlane believed backing up the on-street police presence with a downtown police station, and increasing patrols at night, would make a difference.
"What we've been asking for, over and over again, is the re-establishment of a police station in this neighbourhood," he said.
"It's great that we've got more police, but I don't think that's sufficient to address the actual real crime and the perception of what's going on."
The downtown station on Fort Street closed in 2013, with police headquarters in central Auckland moving to Freeman's Bay in 2019.
Auckland Council compliance manager Adrian Wilson said he was surprised to hear claims measures were not working.
"The reports that we're getting back from our team is that: yes, we'd get the odd bit of nuisance that's being caused but, in terms of levels of crime, we're not seeing it on a daily basis," he said.
Wilson said the council was keen to take a deeper look at peoples' perceptions of city safety by surveying those living, working and visiting town.
"We're trying to look at areas across the board," he said.
"One of the things we're conscious of is that a lot of it comes down to perceptions of safety, which is really difficult to measure if you're talking about crime stats, that doesn't measure what people are feeling."
Wilson said a downtown police station was already being considered, but that that was a matter for the police.
"There's been lots of talk about a downtown police station, and the need for one, and I think that's even shared by police and government," he said.
"So, it's not as simple as it's going to open up tomorrow, but I know that it's being looked at."
Heart of the City chief executive Viv Beck backed a downtown police station, but said she wanted to see even more officers out on patrol.
"We've always wanted to see more police on the street," she said.
"We have got more, there is more needed, we firmly believe that, and we do want to see a downtown station, but we are seeing the benefit of additional police on the beat.
Beck said central government, local government, and social and business sectors were working together to make Auckland central safer.
But for Macfarlane, that did not go far enough.
"It's not working, the current policies are insufficient and are not working, the current approach," he said.
"Please do more, please give us a police station."
Police Minister Mark Mitchell had said he would be open to exploring a public-private partnership for a station in central Auckland.
Police have been approached for comment.
