The Southern police district commander has been invited to attend a public meeting in South Dunedin to talk through proposed changes to Dunedin's police structure.
Dunedin South MP Clare Curran announced this week she would hold the public meeting on December 1.
Ms Curran said concerns about the police proposal were mounting among her constituents and the proposed changes needed to be explained and justified to the public.
In an internal report to police staff distributed at the beginning of this month, multiple proposed changes to Dunedin's current police structure were outlined.
They included turning the two-man stations Port Chalmers and Green Island into sole-charge stations, moving all general duties staff at Dunedin South and North stations back in to the Dunedin Central station and forming three new six-person proactive policing teams that would target specific crime problems.
Ms Curran was concerned there would be a lesser police presence on South Dunedin's streets and stations were being kept open by skeleton staff "for the sake of being kept open", not because they had meaningful functions.
She also questioned whether decisions to restructure Dunedin's police were "being driven more by cost cutting, than by the desire to truly address crime and good policing".
She believed police staff in Dunedin were doing the best job within the parameters they had been set.
She met Southern police district Superintendent Bob Burns last Friday to discuss the restructure and said either he, or a representative, would be at the public meeting.
Supt Burns said this week the proposal was about police being more visible, not less.
Having proactive, targeted policing teams might well mean more resources were focused on South Dunedin, depending on where the greatest need was.
The words "skeleton staff", in relation to how many staff would be based at the Dunedin South station, were a "misnomer", he said.
In addition to a proactive policing team based at Dunedin South, under the proposal the station would continue to house the police dog section (five staff), a community constable and a watch house assistant - ending up with only one fewer frontline staff member than was there now.
And the proposals were about reducing crime, not cost cutting.
"The proposal is not about . . . saving money or politics.
"It's about providing the best possible service to our communities.
"If it goes ahead, it will cost slightly more in real terms."
