Police looking at fines for Auckland rule-breakers

The Police Assistant Commissioner says issuing fines could be a possibility after scenes of crowded parks and public areas in Auckland, despite the region being at the centre of a Covid-19 outbreak.

• This story was first published by RNZ

The Auckland region moved up to alert level 3 on August 12 after the emergence of a cluster, ending 102 days of no community transmission of the virus in New Zealand. The rest of the country is at alert level 2. The alerts will remain in place until August 26. 

Nine new confirmed cases of Covid-19 have been reported today, all from the Auckland cluster. Eighty-six people are now linked to it, including 36 positive cases, and have been moved into quarantine.

Assistant Commissioner Richard Chambers told RNZ's Checkpoint programme tonight that police have issued warnings over alert level 3 breaches, but issuing fines is a bigger discussion.

"We are discussing those very points with Health and with All of Government group. There may well come a time when we need to take that approach."

However, education is sufficient right now, and only a small number of rule-breakers need warnings, he said.

"I think everyone understands what's expected and the vast majority of people are doing the right thing. There are a few who don't seem to understand or are ignoring those [rules] and, where we can, we have a conversation with them.

"We continue to say, please avoid unnecessary travel. The reason we're all doing this is for the greater good of all communities across Auckland and, ultimately, for our country."

Chambers said they were getting "fantastic support" from the community and people were making them aware of rule-breakers.

"It's only a very small number we're having to warn."

The region has been closed off to other parts of the country in an effort to halt the spread.

Chambers said police were now stopping motorists on all routes in and out of Auckland, including back roads people have been trying to sneak down.

There are now 13 checkpoints operating to the north and south of the city, and more than 50,000 vehicles have been stopped so far.

Chambers told Checkpoint that people have now had time to get used to the rules, so more vehicles will be turned around in the coming days.