Yesterday the Otago Daily Times learnt of plans to advertise for extra staff to man the Balclutha Police Station, but station chief Senior Sergeant Stan Leishman said they would be replacement, rather than additional officers.
He said the recruitment drive followed an internal advertising campaign on police intranet TenOne earlier this month which promoted Clutha as a "great community'' offering a range of attractive lifestyle opportunities.
An initial wave of interviews had failed to find suitable applicants for a sergeant and constable position, although the recruitment process would continue shortly with fresh advertising.
"We had a position open up when Sgt Robin Hutton was redeployed to Dunedin Airport recently, and we've already taken on an additional constable as part of the Government's allocation of 1800 new officers.
"We also have a further constable position which we're hopeful of filling shortly, although that will just bring us up to complement.''
Clutha Mayor Bryan Cadogan and Clutha-Southland MP Hamish Walker have appealed recently for the Government to increase its allocation of new officers to regional stations.
An extra officer has been added in Alexandra, Cromwell, Balclutha, Winton and Queenstown in this year's allocation.
On April 10, Mr Cadogan told the ODT understaffing was having a negative effect on the lives of Clutha officers due to a lack of 24/7 cover leading to high numbers of unrostered callouts.
Mr Walker began a petition last month to garner support for staffing the station 24/7. It had gathered more than 1000 signatures by April 10, and is still active.
However, Snr Sgt Leishman described the situation as "good news'' at present.
"We're very appreciative of the extra officer, and are confident of filling our other positions shortly, so it's good news overall.
"Of course, we could always utilise more staff and would welcome any further allocation that might arise in future.''
