Kaitaia area under police scrutiny as some locals flouting lockdown law

April 2, 2020

It comes as police deploy more staff to educate and encourage people to do the right thing.


Locals in some small towns are taking the law into their own hands flouting the lockdown rules.

In Kaitaia, the dairy, laundromat and pharmacies are all that are open.

The pharmacies are pushing free delivery just to try and keep people at home.

"There's a lot of people out and about - you would expect there to be car every few minutes, instead there's a car every few seconds. I think some people don't get the seriousness of the situation we are in,” says a spokesperson from Shackleton’s Pharmacy.

The checkpoints set up by locals are preventing some travel with Tai Tokerau MP, Kelvin Davis saying it’s the locals who are putting people at risk.

"It's our own whānau who are putting us at risk, not tourists, there's no tourism business at the moment and the one or two cars they may stop, pale into insignificance when you compare the numbers of people who are wandering around town,” he told 1 NEWS.

Police are trying to get on top of it.

“We have deployed more of our police staff up in that area again to engage educate and encourage people to do the right thing, as majority are doing and of course if that doesn’t work there will be an enforcement to follow up,” Police Commissioner Mike Bush says.
 

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