Drawing thin blue line over recruits
New figures have revealed just how tough it is to become a police officer in this country.
In the four years to March 2018, 22,993 people applied to join the force. But they were whittled down to just 1503 successful applicants, figures released under the Official Information Act show.
Initial vetting cut 6592 candidates. The other 21,490 applicants were then weeded out over the four years by phone screening, medical tests, psychometric tests, personality and literacy tests, criminal background checks, 40-hour training on-the-beat blocks, plus swimming and physical tests.
This comes in the wake of recent criticisms that new millennial recruits are softer than previous generations of police.
Police Minister Stuart Nash said police would not let standards slip to meet recruitment targets.
‘‘This is not an exercise to get more feet through the door. Every new constable will have to meet the same high standard as the ones currently going through Royal New Zealand Police College.’’
Since he became the minister in October, 530 new frontline officers had graduated and been deployed.
‘‘The standard of men and women I see at the college who are entering the New Zealand police service is astoundingly good,’’ Nash said.
Police Association president Chris Cahill said the cull rate showed it was difficult to don the uniform, which was how it should be and in line with what the public rightly expected.
‘‘We need to maintain these standards . . . because if we lower the standards there will be consequences down the track.’’
But he warned that about 3000 recruits would need to be guided and mentored as part of the vision of having 1800 new cops by 2020.
‘‘Police are doing very well at recruiting and the evidence we see is they’re maintaining the standards, but the challenge is to retain the staff they already have,’’ Cahill said. ‘‘We believe there’s real pressure as veteran staff are leaving and police need to address that matter.’’
Assistant Commissioner Sandra Venables said it was very important police selected the right people. It had rigorous procedures in place to make sure that happened, she said. ‘‘The success of a candidate is based on whether they demonstrate both the core competencies and the values we require."
Decisions on any candidate were based on the outcome of all vetting steps, sometimes including feedback and evaluation from other staff.
In June, the police college took its largest single intake since 2006.
Venables said police were currently getting about 6500 applications a year, of which just 17 per cent were successful. ‘‘We know that applicants can get very invested in the process of applying to join police, and it is disappointing for them when they are not successful.’’
National Party police spokesman Chris Bishop said it was ‘‘hard to become a cop and that’s what New Zealanders expect’’.
He would be holding Nash to his assurances that standards would not slip.
‘‘What we don’t want to see is the Government lowering standards and reducing vetting in order to meet its ever-changing target.’’