Gangs, guns, ram raiders targeted
$550m for extra police, firearms unit
More than $550 million in funding for more frontline police, a new firearms unit and a package to help businesses protect themselves from ram raids has been promised in a Government Budget pre-announcement.
Police Minister Poto Williams made the announcements in Auckland yesterday alongside Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis and Justice Minister Kris Faafoi.
Police and Corrections will get $562m over four years.
“We’ve all seen the news recently on gangs and ram raids,” Faafoi said. “New Zealanders have a right to a justice system that makes our communities safe.”
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster welcomed the new investments. Opposition parties, however, said no amount of money would make up for what they called the Government’s “soft on crime” approach.
Williams said there would be help to support businesses to protect themselves from ram raiders — something that had become an increasing problem in recent months.
However, she said there were not yet specific details on what the new responses would be. Ministers were set to discuss the issue today but had more work to do, including consulting small businesses.
“Similar to the process that supported the installation of 1000 fog cannons in retail outlets, we will help high-risk businesses protect themselves
from ram raiders,” Williams said.
However, it was now outside the period in which the Budget was set, so funding was yet to be allocated. “We are working at speed to put this in place.”
Retail NZ CEO Greg Harford welcomed the announcement: “We look forward to seeing the detail . . .”
The new package includes $94m for efforts to tackle gangs and organised crime — which Williams said was on top of Operation Tauwhiro and the newly launched Operation Cobalt.
Williams said the arrival of “501s” from Australia had made organised crime “more overt and sophisticated”.
She said the Government would address “social factors” that led to people joining gangs.
As part of the package, $208m will go for a new firearms unit within police.
“The unit will have oversight of implementing the significant and ongoing Arms Act legislative changes which overseas examples tell us are central to reducing gun crime over time,” Williams said.
“It will be a dedicated firearms regulator” and would be responsible for tracing the origin of firearms used in offences and monitoring the register.
Williams said there was 30-year deficit in which there had not been such a register and it was important to know who owned which firearms.
It was one of the recommendations of the review after the Christchurch mosque terror shootings.
A further $164.6m in operating cash and $20.7m capital funding over four years will be used to expand the
Tactical Response Model — which ensures police are trained and equipped to the standard of the Armed Offenders Squad officers.
Williams said the first priority for the police budget was increasing the number of police on the frontline — and keeping them high.
“Once we achieve our goal of an extra 1800 police officers later this year, we will ensure numbers don’t fall away again by maintaining an ongoing ratio of one police officer to every 480 New Zealanders.”
The package will put $198.3m into rehabilitation and programmes that break the cycle of offending as well as funding for 518 extra Corrections staff over the next four years to support rehabilitation. A further 100 Corrections staff would be recruited for women’s prisons.
Justice Minister Faafoi said there were now 1411 more police on the frontline than when Labour took office in 2017 — the highest ever. “But there is more to do.”
Act’s Police spokesperson Chris Baillie said Labour was “scrambling to make new promises so people forget about the old ones” because crime was “exploding”.
“While ministers squabble about the (police) numbers, crime on our streets has exploded, and gangs are recruiting faster than police.”
National police spokesman Mark Mitchell said: “When the message from the top is that there won’t be serious consequences, offenders feel emboldened . . . “Until Labour gets real about crime and starts sending the message from top that gangs and the misery they peddle are not welcome in New Zealand, Kiwis shouldn’t expect much to change.”
Finance Minister Grant Robertson is set to deliver Budget 2022 on May 19.