Labour promises more police

National says no extra police for Cambridge, Labour says they will make Cambridge safe again with more community policing.

Taupo MP Louise Upston confirmed the status quo would remain in Cambridge despite the region getting 101 additional police officers at a national clinic last week.

Labour’s police spokesman and Napier MP Stuart Nash presented to an audience of 20 at a public meeting in Cambridge on Friday, as part of his nationwide visit to towns reporting an upward trend in crime.

Should Labour win this year’s general election in September, Nash has promised to make Cambridge safe with more police. Nash agreed with Upston, politicians cannot interfere with how police allocate their staff.

‘‘But politicians can make policy a lot more stringent for example placing a greater emphasis on community policing,’’ he said.

The Government’s increase of 880 police is a good start but no where the 1000 Labour promised and its short of the 1165 the police commissioner reported he needed. Using statistics, Nash pointed to the increase in crime and also the decrease in reporting.

‘‘Burglaries and car thefts are

‘‘Burglaries and car thefts are no longer considered to be real crimes.’’

no longer considered to be real crimes, if that is the attitude of the police no wonder they don’t get reported,’’ he said.

Nash believed communities were losing confidence in the police. He wants to see a return to community policing.

‘‘In the Hawke’s Bay town of Taradale, locals popped into the police kiosk and gave tid bits of information,’’ he said.

‘‘With these snippets the police could piece the information together and soon make an arrest. But what did the Government do? They closed the kiosk and people stopped talking to the police.’’

Nash quoted Sir Robert Peel to support his call for the return to community policing: ‘‘Police are about people and people are about police’’.

Nash recommended Cambridge ‘‘continue hammering Waikato’s area police commander for a resolution’’. He promised to return to Cambridge to have the law and order conversation again.

‘‘I guarantee you, if by then I am not the police minister, we will still have the same discussion,’’ he said.

MIKE BAIN Stuart Nash Labour’s police spokesman Stuart Nash and the party’s Hamilton list MP Sue Moroney were in Cambridge to talk about the level of policing in the town.