Great Southern land offers unique challenges

Southern District is geographically the largest in the country taking in more than a third of the South Island.

Southern comprises three areas: Dunedin/Clutha, Ōtago Rural, and Southland. “It is a district of contrasts – from the remote and sparsely populated Fiordland through to the fast-growing tourist centres of the Queenstown Lakes,” says Southern District Commander Superintendent George Fraser.

Provisional figures from this year’s census indicate a 29.2 percent increase in census night population in the Queenstown Lakes area since the 2001census.
Dunedin has long been a popular choice for tertiary education – it is home to 20,000 students mainly aged between 18 and 22.  Southland is also a popular destination for students and the recent conversion of pastoral farms into dairy units has ushered in changes in the rural makeup.

Southern has the highest number of one, two, or three-person stations in the country and George acknowledges the pivotal role staff at these stations play.

“Staff at these stations have strong leadership roles in the community in both a professional and personal capacity.”

George says other districts face similar issues but what makes Southern unique is the geographically demanding and unforgiving terrain especially for Search and Rescue operations.

 “We have exceptionally strong partnerships with Search and Rescue especially coastal and alpine. Tourism has brought often high-risk activities in quite remote locations like Fiordland which can be challenging.”

Southern contains 22 percent of the country’s roading network. “In addition to a large number of roads to police, we also have to deal with a high number of visitors travelling in unfamiliar territory,” says George.

“Irrespective of whether we are dealing with crime related matters, risks on our roads or a search and rescue operation, the basic principles of policing remain the same – such as the importance of having good relationships and engagement within the community.