Airport security guards are hitting New Zealand streets thanks to a deal hammered out with police. Aviation Security Service (Avsec) Wellington station manager, Warwick Burr, said up to 500 staff nationwide found themselves with little to do as the Covid-19 crisis took hold and most plane travel was cancelled.
But a deal had been worked out with police where the Avsec guards acted as the “eyes and ears” for police. Each policing district was using the new resource a little differently, Burr said. This meant in Wellington, staff were patrolling suburbs and part of the central city, in Auckland they were going out in patrol cars with police and, in some parts of the South Island, police had provided cars for Avsec officers to do patrols.
While they could not make arrests, they could notify police of trouble. They were also able to do isolation checks, guard quarantine and isolation hotels, and educate people breaching lockdown rules. All staff had been instructed to stay out of dangerous situations. Their wages were being paid by Avsec, a Crown entity funded through passenger levies.
