11 March, 2025

Revamped cop-shop cells reopen on North Shore

Refurbished lock-up… Police Commissioner Richard Chambers (left) at the reopening of the North Shore station’s cells, which means people arrested in the area will no longer require transferring to West Auckland. The facility has 20 single cells.

North Shore Police Station’s new custody unit is expected to give frontline officers more time to focus on crime-busting.
The swept-up Rosedale facility was re-opened last week, having been decommissioned in 2013.
Its reopening would save staff hours in travel time transporting detainees to West Auckland, said the Waitematā District Commander, Superintendent Naila Hassan.
Instead of being processed in Henderson, they will now again be dealt with at Rosedale, taking pressure off staff in a policing area that stretches from Warkworth in the north to Devonport in the south.
“At the end of the day we’ll have frontline staff back out there faster working to keep the community safe,” added Police Commissioner Richard Chambers, who was also at the opening, along with the Minister of Police, Mark Mitchell.
The upgraded facility features intercoms and CCTV in each of the 20 cells, two interview rooms and two audio-visual-link rooms.
The link rooms are equipped so detainees can make remote court appearances.
Chambers said they would remove some “costs and complexities” associated with transporting detainees to court.
Each cell has windows which can be covered by a blind for privacy when others are being brought into the unit.
The unit has been designed to have a calming effect as it was often a stressful experience for people brought into it, a police staff member told the Observer.
A calming two-tone colour palette has been used in the cells, while the hallways have been made with materials that absorb sound to create a quiet atmosphere.
Waitematā was the fastest growing district in the country in terms of population growth, Hassan said.

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