Verbal abuse, harassment, threatening behaviour and assault have been reported from Invercargill to the Waitaki.
Aggression and abuse towards Otago Regional Council staff has already surpassed last year’s levels — and in three cases this year the police were called.
In response, a review of the council’s duress alarm locations and related staff procedures is under way.
Chief executive Richard Saunders said the changes the review brought about would be minor, but he confirmed that in the first six months of the year there had been 12 incidents of abuse or aggression towards council staff or contractors.
There were nine incidents of aggression and abuse towards staff last year.
"The majority of our interactions with our Otago community are respectful and for that our staff are grateful.
"However, verbal and physical abuse, and anti-social behaviour toward staff is causing increasing concern.
"Unacceptable situations are occurring in all areas of our work — in person, down the phone and online," Mr Saunders said.
Information Mr Saunders provided to the Otago Daily Times shows that over the past three and a-half years there had been 43 aggression or abuse incidents towards council staff.
Mr Saunders said three incidents this year had resulted in police notification.
One was at a contractor’s workplace where police responded to a case of physical violence.
In one case at the council, police were notified when staff received an abusive and threatening email.
In another case, staff were faced with threatening and intimidating behaviour during a pollution response, Mr Saunders said.
He accepted some interactions with the council could be challenging "and may lead to a level of frustration".
However, violence and aggression towards staff and contractors was "never OK".
He asked the public to remember council staff and contractors were members of the community and should feel safe engaging with the public while at work.
Dunedin City Council chief executive Sandy Graham called on the public to show kindness to her staff.
Animosity towards the council recently erupted at a public forum, which forced councillors to leave the room.
Ms Graham said the incident had prompted security to be reviewed.
She said council staff were faced with threatening or abusive behaviour from members of the public "just for doing their jobs".
This year to date there had been two assaults on council staff and a third incident in which two staff members were threatened by a member of the public.
There had been disruptions at community workshops earlier this month.
This week a staff member was harassed on social media.
Since 2019, there had been 172 incidents of violence or abuse of staff, including nine assaults.
"This simply has to stop.
"Our staff come to work each day to work hard for Ōtepoti Dunedin and help make this city a better place to live."
"Like everyone, they deserve to be safe at work and to come home to their families in one piece — physically and emotionally," Ms Graham said.
A Gore District Council spokeswoman said in the first six months of this year Gore staff had endured 10 incidents of "mainly verbal abuse".
In one instance, police were involved, she said.
A Waitaki District Council spokeswoman said there had been 11 recorded incidents of abuse through this financial year, to the end of May.
Police were called for five of the 11 incidents, she said.
Invercargill City Council chief risk officer Andrew Cameron said between February and June this year there had been 20 reports of abuse or aggression towards council staff and contractors.
Of these, four incidents were reported to police, including one in which a member of the public witnessed the incident and called police.
"The vast majority of the time, our staff is treated with respect.
"However, it is disappointing to note there are occasions where interactions between the community and staff escalate to a point where the safety of staff is compromised.
"Invercargill City Council takes the wellbeing of staff extremely seriously, and it is not acceptable that any staff member is abused while simply trying to do their job," Mr Cameron said.
Environment Southland health, safety and risk manager Paul le Roux said although the council was not seeing an increase in the amount of incidents reported, "the aggressive nature and language used have escalated, especially when dealing with general rates-payments queries".
The regional council had recorded two incidents of abuse of council staff this year.
One was an ongoing issue with a person who verbally abused staff on numerous occasions, Mr le Roux said.
It involved notifying police to seek further guidance.
Staff were offered workplace support if needed, he said.
Aggression towards DCC staff
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023* | Total | |
| Assault | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 9 |
| Harassment | 20 | 15 | 14 | 7 | 2 | 58 |
| Threatening behaviour | 0 | 0 | 15 | 15 | 13 | 43 |
| Verbal abuse | 8 | 7 | 19 | 22 | 6 | 62 |
| Total | 28 | 23 | 54 | 44 | 23 | 172 |
*2023 figures are year to date Source: DCC
