13 January 2012

Community work vehicles in the Nelson/Marlborough West Coast Area have been installed with equipment which allows Corrections to send out offenders in work crews to more communities.

The equipment, which is essentially radio telephone technology, was trialled last year and proved to be very worthwhile in increasing cellphone coverage in remote areas.

Corrections Community Probation Services Area Manager Polly Cunningham says having the technology means that community work staff can feel safe and secure when they are in the field and on the road in a vast area which has a lot of rugged terrain.

“In the past, a lack of cellphone coverage has limited where community work teams can operate because staff need a reliable way of communicating with our service centres at all times,” she says.

“Now we have higher strength aerials which has given us more coverage and better call quality. It has had a really positive impact on staff morale, one staff member has even said it sounds like you’re talking to someone in the next room now.”

Being able to travel safely into more remote areas has opened up more areas for Corrections staff to take offenders to.

“We can now take work crews to undertake projects in more communities, which means people can benefit from the unpaid work offenders do. For example, now that we can access areas like Hira and Cable Bay and mountain bike tracks up at Sharlands, we were able to provide flood relief last month.”

This year community work parties will also be spending time in Takaka, an area where cellphone coverage is usually intermittent, to assist with flood relief.

Notes to reporters

The sentence of Community Work requires offenders to do supervised unpaid work in the community for non-profit organisations as a way of making up for their offending. Community work can be done anywhere in the community from parks and reserves to schools, marae, and churches. Find out more about community work.

For further information contact the Communications Services Desk:

Phone: (04) 460 3365 
Email: commdesk@corrections.govt.nz

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