Civilians on police frontline

By PATRICK GOWER

Civilians will replace police officers in responding to burglaries and thefts under a radical plan to ease police shortages in Auckland.

The police are to hire 60 extra non-sworn staff and teach some of them to take fingerprints, interview witnesses and gather evidence at crime scenes, including burglaries, car thefts and thefts from vehicles.

They will also handle phone calls, police station public counter inquiries, office filing and general administration.

The scheme, announced by Police Minister George Hawkins and Commissioner Rob Robinson in Auckland yesterday, will cost $2.5 million a year in extra Government spending and will not affect other areas of policing.

Other Auckland police initiatives revealed yesterday included:

* A cadet scheme to attract people aged 17-21.

* A second radio frequency for Auckland City District to ease radio traffic congestion and help staff to do their jobs faster.

* A hundred officers from existing ranks brought in for the America's Cup early next year.

* Ninety-two of the 240 recruits now at the police college will be given jobs in Auckland by the end of June. Seventy more will come from the next two intakes.

The initiatives are designed to address Auckland's police shortage - caused by a fast-growing population and a lack of people wanting to serve in any of its three districts - and free up officers so they can concentrate on frontline work.

Less than a week ago, Mr Robinson put the shortage at 100 officers, saying he had the money to pay for them "but unfortunately I don't yet have enough people walking in the front door saying, 'I want to be a cop'."

Both Mr Hawkins and Mr Robinson yesterday denied the use of civilians was a "stop-gap" measure because of the lack of recruits.

Mr Robinson said sworn police would still respond to priority calls but "there will now be occasions where civilians will be the face of the New Zealand police".

Some of the new non-sworn staff will act as "civilian scene of crime officers" but will not have any arrest powers. Those with legal or forensic skills will have an advantage.

The commissioner believed a change in attitude might be needed from some members of the public.

"Parts of New Zealand would like to see blue shirts everywhere, but I can tell you that some of our best staff are non-sworn. We are trying to get the right mix."

The extra staff will be spread across the three districts - North Shore-Waitakere, Auckland and Counties-Manukau. All three district commanders confirmed they would use some of the non-sworn staff as first-contact scene-of-crime officers and believed it would improve response times.

Figures released this month show it took police in Auckland nine hours on average to respond to burglaries. The national average was more than 10 hours.

In the new cadet scheme, police want to attract younger people to policing before they set off on other career paths.

Police Association president Greg O'Connor said the extra non-sworn staff would provide considerable assistance, but warned that police would need to protect a balance of the roles.

"It is a very fine line you walk between putting civilians in positions so you are not tying your police up in administrative work, but not having so few police around that you are no use when the proverbial hits the fan.

"The public wants to know that when they have an offender on their doorstep they are going to get a cop and not someone who is a good form-filler and finger-printer."

An unnamed police officer said the only real solution to Auckland's problems was to improve the working conditions with more frontline officers.

"They need to address the fact that being a member of the New Zealand police in Auckland is no longer an attractive job option."