Helicopters that have for decades taken to the skies of New Zealand every year to search for cannabis-growing operations will stay on the ground this year amid a shift in policing priorities.
Light aircraft and helicopters have mounted aerial surveillance operations searching for the banned class C drug since the 1970s, but police now say their resources could be better deployed, particularly in the fight against methamphetamine, known locally as P.
The cost of the annual surveillance operations is unknown, but is thought to be at least a million dollars a year.
A police spokesperson said: “With the increased harm in many communities arising from other drugs, particularly methamphetamine, a one-size-fits-all annual aerial national cannabis operation no longer represents the most appropriate deployment of police resources,” the spokesperson said.
“The decision to spread resources throughout the year, and increase surveillance focus on the drugs causing the greatest harm in the community, does not mean that police across the country will not investigate and prosecute people engaged in the commercial cultivation of cannabis.”
The annual cannabis flights were increasingly contentious in New Zealand, with critics saying they were expensive and busts resulting from the flights were never made public.
The opposition National party criticised the police’s decision to suspend…
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Helicopters that have for decades taken to the skies of New Zealand every year to search for cannabis-growing operations will stay on the ground this year amid a shift in policing priorities.
Light aircraft and helicopters have mounted aerial surveillance operations searching for the banned class C drug since the 1970s, but police now say their resources could be better deployed, particularly in the fight against methamphetamine, known locally as P.
The cost of the annual surveillance operations is unknown, but is thought to be at least a million dollars a year.
A police spokesperson said: “With the increased harm in many communities arising from other drugs, particularly methamphetamine, a one-size-fits-all annual aerial national cannabis operation no longer represents the most appropriate deployment of police resources,” the spokesperson said.
“The decision to spread resources throughout the year, and increase surveillance focus on the drugs causing the greatest harm in the community, does not mean that police across the country will not investigate and prosecute people engaged in the commercial cultivation of cannabis.”
The annual cannabis flights were increasingly contentious in New Zealand, with critics saying they were expensive and busts resulting from the flights were never made public.
The opposition National party criticised the police’s decision to suspend…
