The Prime Minister's security detail has cut a media briefing short in Auckland.
Christopher Luxon was holding a press conference today after a walkabout with police to discuss concerns with businesses in the CBD.
Luxon was talking with media when one of his security officers could be seen coming into the business, actively looking around, before placing a hand on the Prime Minister's shoulder and informing him they had to leave now.
An RNZ journalist at the briefing said he understood protesters were en route to the location, but the Prime Minister left before they had arrived.
He was joined by Police Minister Mark Mitchell, Associate Police Minister Casey Costello, and Retail Crime Ministerial Advisory Group head Sunny Kaushal after police added another 21 officers to their CBD beat teams this month, bringing the team to 51.
It is part of a drive to expand the number of police visible on city streets, with the Auckland team expected to increase to 63, another 17 officers joining the Wellington team, and 18 more in Christchurch.
Luxon said the expanded teams was a "great start, and more than a great start ... it's a collaborative effort and what you're seeing here is that there's really good join-up."
He said with cruise ships coming back to New Zealand, it was important to do better and it was important for people to feel safe.
Patrolling Auckland was a collaborative effort, which was seen on Friday with numerous council and Heart of the City security staff also on the beat.
"Police are obviously at the heart of the whole issue, but they are working really constructively with the security officers from the different retail complexes, with the city council..."
Some business people Luxon had spoken to told him they had seen a difference when it came to on the beat policing.
Mitchell said it was also about having all the Government and community agencies working together. He said the briefing he had seen from police showed crime was starting to trend down.
"It's only early signs, it's green shoots ... I don't have the numbers that I can give to you today but it's numbers that police have been working on."
Coster said it was a long-term thing that needed to be seen having a continued effect.
He said the deployment in the CBD was significant.
"Not just our beat staff, but also our public safety units, our community policing staff, and we have a tactical crime unit focused on the central city as well."
"That's a very big deployment, on a regular basis."
Luxon walked through town, stopping to chat with security officers.
"It's been really good, an announcement and then quick implementation, and you guys joined up together and you've been acting more as a tighter eco-system, is even better," he said to one Britomart security officer.
He also greeted pedestrians as he made his way up Queen Street, some shouting expletive expressions of shock at seeing him.
Murray from Queen's Arcade on Queen St said the situation had improved.
"It's nice to see the police around the lower city CBD," he said.
"We're all working together, it's going to be difficult. We kind of expect the council to do their part in this too with some of the projects, perhaps, homeless people that cause us a little bit of grief, and are a nuisance to themselves and the public," he said.
He said rough sleepers were still an issue, and that pedestrians felt intimidated by them.
rnz.co.nz
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