A Southland council battling abusive behaviour towards its workers has revealed the police were involved in six incidents over the past year.

Invercargill City Council regularly reports on verbal abuse and threatening behaviour, and has clocked up 181 such incidents for the year ending June 2026.

Four incidents affecting staff and two incidents involving contractors were referred to police, council group manager Trudie Hurst said.

Ms Hurst also confirmed that none of the total 181 incidents were internal.

Council reporting shows incident numbers have increased month-on-month from January to a 12-month high of 23 in June.

Last month, a health, safety and wellbeing report showed the police were involved twice in June after employees faced abusive behaviour.

The report was presented at a 27 July council meeting but drew no questions from elected members.

Ms Hurst has previously explained the reported numbers related to employees, contractors or members of the public at council facilities or spaces.

It did not include elected members unless they lodged an incident report.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.