Drawing a thin blue line through recruits

New figures have revealed how tough it is to become a police officer in this country.

In the four years to March this year, 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-thebeat 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.’’