The majority of New Zealanders "got the message" this Easter weekend, police say, with only 64 people facing prosecution for flouting Level 4 lockdown protocol.
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster gave the nation's cooperation an eight out of 10.
"It's still the vast majority of people doing the right thing. We ran checkpoints through the weekend and turned around a small number of people who were going the wrong way for the wrong reasons," he told The AM Show on Tuesday morning.
Kiwis who were caught sneaking off to the bach or the beach often claimed they didn't know what they were doing was wrong, Coster said.
"People know the rules and there really is no excuse for breaking them."
A police spokesperson confirmed to Newshub that between 6pm on Thursday and 9pm on Sunday, police conducted over 500 checkpoints nationwide to ensure motorists were only undertaking essential travel.
Over the Easter break, police also completed 2005 reassurance checks at essential services including supermarkets, pharmacies and petrol stations. More than 2700 reassurance patrols were undertaken in communities across the country.
Enforcement action was taken against 622 people for breaches of the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act or the Health Act, the spokesperson confirmed, with the majority being issued a warning. There were 15 youth referrals.
Coster says many of the 64 people facing prosecution had been previously warned by police regarding a lockdown breach. The most common charge is a breach of the Health Notice, which is an offence under the Health Act. If convicted, they could spend a maximum of three months behind bars.
Although Coster says he would be surprised if many of the weekend's rulebreakers are given jail time, he did note that some breaches were combined with other offending.
"We need to follow through to get the result - that requires everyone to do the right thing here. If we stick this out we'll get a good result, but we could just as easily throw it away," he said.
On a positive note, the long weekend passed by with no deaths on New Zealand's roads, Coster confirmed, albeit a few serious crashes. The lockdown has also seen a reduction in reports of violent crime.
"Most of our demand is down on what it normally is. We had a short, sharp spike in domestic violence, family harm [incidents]. We're now back to pre-lockdown levels, at least for the time being. We're very well-placed to deal with what we're seeing - certainly assault, theft, burglary are all down on their normal levels," Coster said.
"There's no doubt some people are doing it hard. The stress on families increases... our encouragement would be - there is an end in sight if we can stick this out."
A police spokesperson confirmed to Newshub that since the introduction of the Alert Level 4 restrictions, there have been 1205 recorded breaches, 138 prosecutions, 1038 warnings and 29 youth referrals as of 9pm on Sunday.
