'No apology' for traffic checkpoints despite crime wave

Eight police officers and five patrol cars were tied up on a 75min traffic stop in Christchurch - at a time when the city’s top cop says "every available resource" was being used to fight an outbreak in youth crime.

The traffic stop on busy Lincoln Rd from 11am-12.15pm on Friday resulted in 23 drivers being issued with infringement notices: 16 for using a cellphone while driving, four for not wearing a seatbelt correctly, two for excessive speed, and one for unsafe driving in an intersection.

Police regularly use the location at 359 Lincoln Rd to pull offending drivers into a private car parking area where they are ticketed.

Last Thursday, Canterbury district commander Superintendent Tony Hill said police were using “every available resource” to tackle the recent rise in youth crime.

It follows a spike in aggravated robberies and ram-raids that saw a dairy owner in Opawa stabbed and a convenience store worker in Heathcote ordered to the ground at gunpoint.

A 14-year-old was arrested for the stabbing, while a 17-year-old handed himself in in connection to the Heathcote robbery.

The Auckland-based police Eagle helicopter has been deployed to Christchurch as part of a two-month operation to target and disrupt youth-related offending.

At the weekend it was used to track a vehicle suspected of being involved in a burglary in Stanmore Rd at 1.40am on Sunday. Ground units followed and two suspects were arrested.

Said Hill last week: “Serious offences should be met with serious consequences, and we want our community to know that we are bringing in every available resource to help keep them safe.

“We understand there is a lot of frustration among the community following recent offending, and we hear you. This operation is being launched to disrupt offending patterns, hold offenders to account and deter any further offending.”

Hill did not respond to questions from The Star about the level of resource used on the traffic stop, and if they could have been deployed elsewhere.

But road policing manager Senior Sergeant Gerard Peoples told The Star police “make no apologies” for traffic checkpoints.

“This sort of routine checkpoint is common, and business-as-usual for road policing staff. This type of activity, like other policing activity, continues and will continue alongside our current focus on youth crime,” he said.

Peoples said the operation involved a spotter who identified unsafe driving behaviours.

“They then notify officers on the radio, who will then pull that driver over to speak with them, and on most occasions issue them an infringement.”

Peoples said police will continue to run checkpoints in order to prevent unsafe driving behaviour and encourage compliance with the law.