Northland's police force is the bluest in the country with nearly a third of the troops disengaged.
For the fourth year in a row police in Northland have been revealed as far from happy in their work.
The results of the latest workplace survey were released yesterday.An internal survey asked staff to rate their satisfaction with the organisation's vision and purpose; their engagement with the job; communication; their colleagues and workplace respect and integrity.
The survey saw 236 staff - or 59.9 per cent of staff employed by Northland police - fill out the survey.
Compared with New Zealand police overall, Northland had a lower proportion of engaged staff at 17.4 per cent and a higher proportion of disengaged staff at 29.4. The remainder of staff, 53.4 per cent, were ambivalent.
That gave Northland an engagement index of 57.2 per cent, the lowest in the country, followed by Eastern 61.8, Central 62.9 and Waikato 63.2.
Auckland City was the most engaged with 80.4, second was Waitemata 77.4 and third Counties/Manukau 76.7.
The engagement index measured how connected an employee felt towards the NZ Police as an organisation.
Less than a third of the staff agreed NZ Police cared about their views and opinions, that day-to-day decisions showed that quality services was a top priority for the organisation, the NZ Police cared about the wellbeing of the staff, that communication was open and honest, or that they felt their contribution was valued.
"This highlights Northland as a priority area for NZ Police," the report said.
A positive was a large portion of Northland staff felt they were committed to the work they did and reported their team and supervisors behaved in a way that was consistent with the NZ Police values.
The work engagement, which measured the sense of fulfilment, motivation and commitment staff had to their day to day work was high in Northland with 82 per cent saying their job gave them a sense of personal achievement and they were committed to their work.
In a written release acting district commander Inspector Dean Robinson said the survey indicated overall the district had a dedicated and motivated workforce.
"These results are pleasing and remain consistent with our results in 2016," Mr Robinson said.
"Our staff also say that the biggest thing that makes Police a great place to work more than anything else is their co-workers and camaraderie, and the job itself."
He said the recent announcement of 66 new staff over the next four years - with 20 to start within the next year - was also a welcome boost.
Mr Robinson said the survey had also identified several areas for improvement, including further enhancing communication, improving staff recognition and building a sense that NZ Police was an effective organisation.
"We acknowledge that while we have made some gains, there is still a lot more work to do in a number of areas to lift engagement, and we will be focusing on these."
He acknowledged the staff who had given their feedback which was critical to helping build a high-performing organisation.