Canterbury District Review 2025 - Consultation

Please attribute to Canterbury District Commander Superintendent Tony Hill

Canterbury Police has been consulting internally with staff on a proposal to redesign its structure.

Our goal is to deliver a better service to our communities by boosting core policing services and strengthening our ability to meet demand, now and in the future.

We are focussed on the safety of our communities and our police team.

As the proposal concerns changes that directly impact our staff, we have an obligation to consult with them first.
We also acknowledge the importance of listening to our communities. We have already received some feedback and it’s great to hear how passionate our communities are about the service we provide. We want to continue to provide that great service.

In a departure from our normal process in relation to operational decision-making, we are now sharing an external version of the proposal and inviting feedback from the public.

We haven’t reviewed our structure since 2017 and we want to get it right. We're not content to keep doing things the way we always have when we believe we can do better.

I stress that this is a proposal and no decisions have been made. I will be paying close attention to the feedback as it comes in.

If you would like to provide feedback on the proposed changes, please email canterbury.review@police.govt.nz.

Feedback will be accepted up until 5pm, Monday 18 August.

The redesign proposal is available here:

Frequently Asked Questions

How many stations are closing?

One. Arthur’s Pass is the only one to close permanently. It has not been operational for some two years.
 

Will any police officers lose their jobs?

No. The intent of the proposal is to ensure our constabulary are best positioned to meet our greatest demand and be located to make the biggest difference to the community.
 

Why are you only sharing the document now?

This was always intended to be an internal process to talk with our staff first, as the people most impacted by proposals.
 

Are you trying to move rural police positions to the city where it’s busy?

No. But we are trying to be sensible about having coverage in road policing, 24/7 emergency responsiveness, while keeping a permanent liaison position.