Police are urging our community to play it safe this weekend and stay local as much as possible and to adhere to the Alert Level restrictions that are in place.
Auckland currently remains in Alert Level 3 and the rest of New Zealand at Alert Level 2.
“As Aucklanders head in into another weekend, police will be out in our communities ensuring compliance with the current restrictions as well as continuing to operate the 13 checkpoints in both North and South Tāmaki Makaurau,” Assistant Commissioner Scott Fraser said.
“The latest compliance figures show us that as of 4pm yesterday, 105,963 vehicles have been processed through the checkpoints. A total of 5622 have been turned around.”
“Police are clear about expectations of those travelling through checkpoints. People will be turned around if they cannot prove essential purpose of travel,” Fraser said.
“Please plan your trip ahead, come prepared with appropriate documentation or an exemption letter,ready to show to checkpoint staff and expect delays during peak periods.”
More information about exemptions is available on the Covid-19 website.
Details and a map of our checkpoints is available on the Police website.
Since the return of Alert Level 3 restrictions for Auckland, police have conducted hundreds of reassurance patrols across essential facilities. These have included supermarkets, pharmacies and Covid-19 testing sites.
During that time, five people have been warned for breaching the restrictions and two have been arrested and charged.
Brief details for those charged include:
- A 32-year-old man faces two charges of Obstruct/Hinder Medical Officer of Health or Person Assisting Med Officer following an incident on August 16, where he ignored an order to turn around and proceeded to visit his partner in the Waikato. Police made enquiries to locate him and he was arrested and charged a few days later. He was expected to appear in Manukau District Court today.
- A 58-year-old man faces a number of charges including Obstruct/Hinder Medical Officer of Health or Person Assisting Med Officer after he allegedly attempted to evade Police by driving down the truck bypass lane at the Bombay checkpoint on State Highway 1 on August 17. He is next due to appear in Manukau District Court on August 31.
“Our focus remains on engaging, encouragement and education with the public. Generally, Police are seeing our community doing an excellent job of following the rules and social distancing,” said Fraser.
“With the weekend coming up, we are urging people to stay local. If you are out in public, it is recommended that you wear a face mask or covering and ensure you are keeping recommended distance from other people not in your bubble.
“We continue to thank our community for their continued patience at the checkpoints which are still seeing some delays during peak hours. Stay safe and remember that the more we follow the rules, the sooner we can be back down alert levels.
“If you are feeling unwell, stay home and contact your GP or Healthline for further advice.”
