{"id":598983,"date":"2026-09-13T10:16:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T10:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/598983\/"},"modified":"2026-09-13T10:16:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T10:16:15","slug":"national-announces-plan-for-auckland-transport-police-team-if-re-elected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/598983\/","title":{"rendered":"National announces plan for Auckland transport police team if re-elected"},"content":{"rendered":"

National has announced it will put a dedicated team of police officers on trains and buses if it is re-elected to government in November. <\/p>\n

National police spokesperson Mark Mitchell said the policy would establish a dedicated Auckland Transport Police Team. <\/p>\n

It would mean a “visible police presence” on trains, buses and ferries, and at stations and transport hubs \u2013 focused on “high-risk routes” and peak hours. <\/p>\n

A total of 50 new officers would be recruited, and police would receive an additional $7 million in funding through the 2027 budget. <\/p>\n

\u201cEvery Aucklander should feel safe catching public transport, whether they’re heading to work in the morning or travelling home late at night,” Mitchell said. <\/p>\n

\u201cPolice should be where people are. As more Aucklanders use public transport, it makes sense to have more Police on the network.<\/p>\n

\"National<\/p>\n

National spokesperson for Police Mark Mitchell. (Source: Getty)<\/p>\n

Mitchell said security measures needed to adapt to the network’s growth, following the opening of the new City Rail Link<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He said the predicted increase in central city public transport users made the policy necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe City Rail Link will increase peak commuter capacity through the city centre by around 50%. That means more Aucklanders relying on public transport every day, and later services,” Mitchell explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolice should be where people are. As more Aucklanders use public transport, it makes sense to have more Police on the network.”<\/p>\n

Mitchell said the proposal aimed to deter crime and give passengers a sense of safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cAuckland Transport’s staff already do important work keeping the network running safely, but they do not have the powers of sworn police officers,\u201d Mitchell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA visible police presence helps deter offending before it occurs, reassures passengers and transport staff, and ensures rapid intervention when something does go wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Auckland’s City Rail Link opened to the public<\/a> on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"National has announced it will put a dedicated team of police officers on trains and buses if it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":598984,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[67,11507,111,43,139,69,135,112,270122],"class_list":["post-598983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-crime-and-justice","tag-national-party","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-politics","tag-transport","tag-vote-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}