New police not certain - Falloon

Rangitata MP Andrew Falloon is claiming the Labour-led Government will not guarantee South Canterbury any additional police officers, though new Police Minister Stuart Nash says that’s a matter for the Police Commissioner.

Falloon said Nash had been to Timaru prior to last year’s general election, and highlighted South Canterbury as an area that was under-resourced.

There are currently 116 fulltime equivalent police officers sworn in the Mid-South Canterbury policing area. This number excludes Police Prosecutions and the Commercial Vehicle Safety Team. Based on Statistics New Zealand population estimates, the area’s police-to-population area is significantly lower than the overall New Zealand ratio.

‘‘But now, just a few months after taking office, the Police Minister has confirmed that there’s no guarantee South Canterbury will see any new police officers at all,’’ Falloon said.

When asked by Falloon if he could guarantee the region additional dedicated sworn officers under the Government’s policy to increase nationwide police numbers by 1800, Nash replied: ‘‘As the member is aware, under the Policing Act 2008, decisions around the deployment of Police officers [are] the responsibility of the Commissioner of Police.’’

A spokesperson for Nash said the coalition agreement between Labour and NZ First contained an undertaking to strive towards the recruitment of new police.

‘‘Decisions about where to deploy police resources are a matter for the Commissioner of Police. Mr Nash believes these efforts to increase police resources will have a positive effect on all communities in New Zealand, including both metropolitan centres and provincial areas like South Canterbury.

‘‘More detail is expected in the Government’s first Budget, in May.’’

Nash was having ongoing conversations with Police Commissioner Mike Bush about delivering in community policing commitments.

Police Mid-South Canterbury area commander Inspector Dave Gaskin said he believed the region was already well-resourced.

‘‘We have now got back to our approved numbers after receiving 13 new staff from Police College last year.

‘‘The challenge for us now is to make sure we have our deployment model correct and making sure the staff are in the right place at the right time and focused on the right goals.’’

Gaskin said while more police officers would be nice, ‘‘the challenge is to use what we have wisely and well’’.

New Zealand Police Association president Chris Cahill said the union had been concerned about police resourcing for some time.

‘‘That is why it [the association] welcomed the National coalition government’s Feb 2016 Safer Communities package of 880 new officers and 245 police employees over four years.’’

Cahill said the association understood Nash was strongly focused on community policing, and was still awaiting allocations per district, including the MidSouth Canterbury policing area.

‘‘The association has made it clear to both the current and former governments that New Zealand needs a better policepopulation ratio than the 1:538 as of last year.

Statistics New Zealand population estimates say South Canterbury’s 2017 population was 59,600, while the Ashburton District was at 34,100. Based on these figures, Mid-South Canterbury’s police-topopulation ratio would be 1:808.