Minister opens new Manurewa police station

Today’s opening of Manurewa Police station marks the sixth new station opened in New Zealand this millennium, Police Minister George Hawkins says.

“In the last three years, new stations have been opened in Howick, Great Barrier Island, Kapiti, Waikouiti and St Andrews, while others including Otara, Pukekohe, Waiuku and Hokitika, have been significantly refurbished,” Mr Hawkins said.

Invercargill and Oamaru communities would shortly celebrate opening new stations in their areas.

“What this particularly shows is that Counties Manukau stations are up to scratch,” Mr Hawkins said.

The Labour-led Government’s commitment to policing included a programme of rebuilding and refurbishing stations around the country came at a cost of $60m over five years. “This compares with an average of only around $725,000 a year spent on police property between 1996 and 1999 under the National-led Government, “ he said.

The new $2m Manurewa station on Halver Rd was designed to house the current 52 staff, and was flexible enough to accommodate future growth or movement in staff numbers.The building took around nine months to complete and replaced five old houses including a muster room bought on site at the time of the Ministry of Transport merger.

Mr Hawkins commended the patience of staff who, with the exception of the Area Controller and the Watchhouse team, were relocated to Papakura during the rebuilding.

“Manurewa now has a top class police facility where for the first time the entire staff is under one roof,” Mr Hawkins said. The Youth and Community team, which had operated from a building behind the previous station, would continue to work from the new facility.