Act calls for review of police escorts for overstayers

Deborah Coddington

The Act party is calling for a review of the use of sworn police officers to escort overstayers back to their homelands - a practice which took up 12,000 hours of police time last year.

Act MP Deborah Coddington has revealed police spent 12,000 hours escorting about 200 illegal immigrants considered a safety risk back to their home countries in 2004, after receiving a reply to a written question to Police Minister George Hawkins.

"If you take it as a 40-hour week, it's about six years of one officer's working life," she told NZPA. "It's a hell of a lot."

Police already hired private security guards to protect crime scenes and they could also be used to escort overstayers, Ms Coddington said.

"There's lots of ways they could look at doing this without taking police away from badly needed New Zealand policing."

Police have been under fire this year following the release of a damning report into its emergency 111 call centres.

The Act MP said she was tipped off to the practice by a member of police who was concerned so many officers were away at the same time.

"At the moment there is a shortage of police officers and resources, and a lack of public confidence in police.

"It was alerted to me from within the force because they're obviously concerned about the fact that the public don't have confidence in them."

However, the Police Association said today it did not have a problem with the practice.

"It's a non-issue," association president Greg O'Connor told NZPA. "Clearly it's an election year."

Police escorts were part of international security requirements. "It's something that is a cost to the country which just has to be borne."

Although 12,000 hours appeared to be a big commitment, it was spread across the entire police force, he said.

While the trips could be a perk for officers, they were seldom to exotic places.

"There are not a lot of people to escort to the south of France, put it that way.

"Most of them are to fairly unexotic places which is why people come here in the first place."

- NZPA