More police ready to outf lank crime
Prolific offenders, thieves and gangs will be the target of Canterbury’s new policing teams as the number of police in New Zealand hits 9000 – a historic high.
It has been confirmed 121 new officers will be primed to join the region’s police in the next three years as part of the Government’s push to provide another 1800 police around the country.
Police Commissioner Mike Bush yesterday announced a staffing bump of between 13 and
27 per cent across 12 policing districts. The increases were based on factors including population growth, offending patterns and local priorities for crime prevention.
Canterbury District Commander Superintendent John Price said frontline ranks would be boosted and a new precision targeting team would focus on prolific offenders to reduce crimes such as burglary and robbery.
In the past year, dairy owners have been targets of sometimes violent attacks: in June, a string of stores were targeted, with three robbed in 24 hours.
Last year, burglaries peaked at
20 a day in Christchurch.
A new serious and organised crime taskforce would tackle gang-related crime such as methamphetamine supply, and violence and intimidation, Price said.
The increase would ensure police could concentrate on ‘‘key policing demands’’ and ‘‘ensure we continue to focus on preventing crime while our victims remain at the forefront of policing’’, he said.
Elsewhere, the Government signalled its focus on Northland’s ‘‘methamphetamine scourge’’ by increasing the region’s policing ranks by 25 per cent.
Provinces such as Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, Hawke’s Bay, Taranaki, Whanganui and Manawatu would get between 17 and 27 per cent more officers.
In the South Island, 264 new officers would be stationed across the policing districts.
The Labour-NZ First coalition agreement promises to ‘‘strive towards’’ having 1800 more police over the next three years.
Police Minister Stuart Nash said it was an ‘‘ambitious’’ target but one that could be met.
Yesterday, Nash said the rollout was fully funded over five years but the coalition hoped to deliver on its promise ‘‘absolutely earlier, if we can’’.
Nash said the counter started on June 30, 2017, with a baseline figure of 8778. For the first time, there are now 9000 police officers.
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters said it was the single biggest investment in policing history.
It provided an increase in constabulary numbers of about 20 per cent, with a further 485 civilian staff providing back office support, he said.
Nash said the allocation plan allowed police to make real
inroads into crime prevention in order to reduce victimisation, lower reoffending and bring down imprisonment rates.
‘‘Our neighbourhoods want a greater uniformed presence to prevent and respond to burglaries and aggravated robberies, family harm and child protection, road policing and civil emergencies,’’ he said.
‘‘Our communities want to know police have the tools they need to fight the threat from organised crime. Police need resources to investigate and disrupt transnational drug smuggling, child sex exploitation, cyber-crime and money laundering.
‘‘That is what we will deliver.’’ Bush said district commanders were determining deployment at an area and station level.
The allocation announcement came as the Government launched its criminal justice summit – the next step in its planned overhaul of the justice system.
In Budget 2018, Nash received $298.8 million in new operating funding, and $17.8m in capital funding for the police over the next four years.
In addition, $159.7m of new funding is provided in 2022/23.
In May, Nash said a failure to deliver 1800 extra cops by 2020 would not be due to funding. If the Government came up short it meant the logistics, and the effort to train 3000 people over three years was ‘‘a little bit too much’’, he said.
National Party police spokesman Chris Bishop said yesterday’s allocation announcement was ‘‘another example of spin over substance’’.
‘‘This is hardly the ‘biggest increase in police resources’ ever as Mr Nash claims,’’ Bishop said.