Police to axe vehicle inspection experts

New Zealand road safety is at risk if a plan to cut policing staff is approved, transport industry bodies say.

In a proposal sent to staff and transport industry representatives, police outlined plans to cut jobs in road-policing with no strategy to replace their function.

The proposal, which axes 26 Vehicle Safety Officers (VSOs) from the Commercial Vehicle Investigation Unit (CVIU) as part of a reallocation of 111 roadpolicing staff, is open for submissions until April 7.

Police Association president Chris Cahill said staff were ‘‘very upset’’ by the proposal.

‘‘Most New Zealanders would agree that we don’t want school buses, tourist buses and logging trucks carrying on the roads that are unsafe,’’ Cahill said.

‘‘We have a lot of very good, professional truck operators in NZ, but in any industry you’re going to have your cowboys and that’s what this opens up, for the cowboys to go unpoliced.’’

VSOs are qualified mechanics with extensive commercial vehicle experience and knowledge who are sworn police officers, but have limited authority.

As well as carrying out roadside audits, VSOs also attend crashes involving commercial vehicles where the vehicle’s roadworthiness is in question.

Cahill said $35 million was needed, on top of the $960m roadpolicing budget allocated by the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA), to secure the VSO jobs.

‘‘If the savings do have to be made, they shouldn’t be from this group who actually lose their job when there are other places where staff could come from and they could get assimilated into other policing roles,’’ Cahill said.

The Road Transport Association (RTA) and the Road Transport Forum (RTF) said the proposal would be ‘‘a backwards move for road safety’’ and planned to make a joint submission to police.

RTA general manager Dennis Robertson said most truck drivers recognised the importance of the VSOs.

‘‘You need somebody on the road to regulate what’s happening because unfortunately not everybody abides by the rules.’’

RTF chief executive Ken Shirley said if the job cuts went ahead, he anticipated VSO services would be transferred to NZTA, or contracted to Vehicle Testing New Zealand.

NZTA safety director Harry Wilson said road policing was funded through the National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) and reviewed every three years.

The $960m budgeted for the 2015-2018 Road Policing Programme (RPP) was up 6.7 per cent from the last allocation.

Police and NZTA considered a range of options, agreeing on one that fitted ‘‘within the funding envelope’’ and would contribute ‘‘to a reduction in deaths and serious injuries’’, Wilson said.

National road policing manager Superintendent Steve Greally confirmed the 26 VSOs would be ‘‘disestablished’’. The changes were first indicated in May.

‘‘Road-policing positions are being reallocated into other areas of police to focus on a broader range of activities, though reallocated staff will still be involved in policing the roads where appropriate.’’

Greally said there was no set timeframe for a final decision and the future of the VSO’s function would be established once consultation was complete.

The proposal says road-policing staff in Auckland, Wellington, Counties and Waitemata would also be reallocated into other duties.