In April, police announced a plan for the deployment of 880 additional officers between 2017 and 2021, and a 24/7 police presence at 20 stations around the country.
Among those stations were Balclutha (2018-19), Wanaka (2019-20), and Alexandra and a rural station in Southland (2020-21).
The district would receive 37 new officers during that period.
However, Police Association president Chris Cahill fears police have not taken into the account the number of staff required to prevent single-crewing of public safety teams (PST) - frontline officers.
``As the Government commits to increasing the number of 24-hour stations across New Zealand, it appears that the need for double-crewing has not been factored into the number of staff needed,'' Mr Cahill said.
``Having worked a single-crew ... car in Te Kuiti many years ago, I know the dangers that can pose and the stress that such assignments have on officers.''
He had raised concerns with police and ``they agreed it's an issue they have to work through''.
``If they are taking positions that are already established in towns and moving them to 24/7 crewing, nobody is better off - in fact, people are worse off,'' he said.
While 880 new officers was a significant investment in police, it would only match the required demand at present and not the expected demand four years from now.
``What I have figured out as I have gone around the country is just how big the crisis is in staffing around New Zealand,'' he said.
``This number [of new staff] is just getting them up to a safe number.
``It's not going to be getting them to do extra because staff were already so stretched.
``It's not relieving that urgency on the frontline.''
Staff at stations set for 24/7 crewing - such as Balclutha, Wanaka and Alexandra - acknowledged they were concerned about the issue of single-crewed PSTs and under-resourcing of the stations.
``They are excited that there's a better service coming to their communities, but they need to understand how that's going to be resourced and what it means for them,'' Mr Cahill said.
``They want to make sure it's not at the expense of other areas of policing that they currently have going on in their communities.''
Southern district commander Superintendent Paul Basham said the district's leadership team was ``working through how the 24/7 bases in the district will be best resourced to provide the best possible service to our communities''.
When asked if single-crewed PST shifts present a concern to police, he replied: ``Police deploy based on intelligence and risk and would not knowingly deploy a single-crew PST unit when there is risks involved in a person being out on their own.''
Police could not confirm the location of the fourth 24/7 station for the district.
``No decisions have been made at this stage,'' Supt Basham said.
`The deployment model of these stations will be decided based on best practice developed in other parts of the country over the next 12 months.''
