Prior to 2018 there were only 10 staff, stationed in Dunedin and Invercargill, who were dedicated to tackling organised crime in the Southern police district.
Now there are 19 full time equivalent staff, and teams in Dunedin, Invercargill, Queenstown and Gore, along with a detective senior sergeant in Dunedin to oversee them.
The figures were revealed earlier this month in a written parliamentary question to Minister of Police Ginny Andersen, from Southland MP Joseph Mooney.
The new staff came about as a result of the Government’s pledge to add 1800 new frontline officers, 700 of which were to be dedicated to investigating organised crime.
"This additional staffing is a direct result of this Government backing police," Ms Andersen said.
The teams in Dunedin, Invercargill, Queenstown and Gore are each headed by a detective sergeant and staffed with trained investigators.
Two new sergeant roles, one in Invercargill and the other in Dunedin, were also created, along with a mandate to focus on proactively reducing gang harm.
The Southern district was allocated an asset recovery team in January , consisting of a detective sergeant, five investigators and a forensic accountant.
The team is based in Dunedin and has a significant focus on organised crime, including working with the organised crime teams around the district.
An inspector position was created in November 2021 to oversee the district’s implementation of the resilience to organised crime in the community programme.
While the initial work of the Inspector had been focused on eastern Southland and Invercargill, it would be expanded to other vulnerable communities soon.
Since the 2018 staff allocations, the Southern district criminal investigation branch had an increase of about six investigator roles, the response said.
An Official Information Act response showed, as of February, the district had 40 staff working on investigations.
Mr Mooney said he asked the question — about what resources were allocated for monitoring and policing gang activity — after constituents raised concerns to him about an increase visible gang members and violent crime in their communities.
He hoped the response would assuage some of the concerns about police not being able to respond to the increase.
Officers had a challenging role and he was grateful for their work.
