Police van has 15 separate cells

COLIN SMITH/Nelson Mail

VANGUARD: Police jailer Karen Peters at the controls and Constable Nathaniel Phipps inside the revamped police prison van.

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Nelson's high-security police van is back in service after being off the road for two years because it needed changes to make it safer for prisoners and their escorts.

Senior Sergeant John Maxwell said the Nelson police jailers celebrated the rebuilt vehicle's first trip earlier this month, escorting prisoners from Nelson and Blenheim.

The revamped van was basically a whole new truck and chassis with the same pod placed on the back, Mr Maxwell said.

He did not know how much the revamp had cost. Acting district commander Inspector Brian McGurk was not prepared to say how much it cost because it was "commercially sensitive", as the new van would be used as a national prototype.

The original van cost $228,000.

"It was unstable, but now is a bigger truck more than capable of dealing with the wind [down the east coast] that will hit the side of it," Mr Maxwell said. The Nelson Mail reported the old van was pulled from the road in October 2007.

The main issues with the old van was its handling in high winds and design problems relating to the size and construction of food hatches which led to security concerns.

There was also a fault with one of the door locks and a fault with the communication device that allowed the guard and the driver to communicate.

The van now had a new chassis, which meant it was more stable. It had 15 separate cells and changes had been made to make them more "suicide resistant", Mr Maxwell said.

The cells' interiors had also been made stronger.

The run from Nelson to Christchurch, which took five-and-a-half hours, was the longest "escort run" in New Zealand.

The ability to segregate all prisoners was a significant step in minimising the risk of assault on prisoners or on jailers, he said.

The old van had only four compartments, which at times greatly reduced the number of prisoners who could be taken to Christchurch if they all had to be segregated.

The revamped van was hi-tech, which was why it would be used as a national prototype.

Nelson had another police van which would continue to be used as a back up vehicle, he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News