A year out from the next election, a political bidding war has surfaced over police numbers.
Labour got the ball rolling with a promise to hire 1000 more officers if it was elected. New Zealand First went further, with leader Winston Peters suggesting that no fewer than 1800 extra frontline staff would be one of its coalition bottom-lines.
The parties put the cost of these additional officers at between $180 million and $324 million a year, which by any measure is a sizable annual investment.
Recent data indicates the force is under pressure to deliver the service that New Zealanders expect of it. In the year to June, police undertook 3 per cent fewer patrols than they carried out in the previous 12 months. In Auckland, the number of patrols was 5 per cent down.
At the same time, there was a 3.1 per cent rise in crime nationwide last year, which included 6.5 per cent more assaults, 13 per cent more burglaries and 12 per cent more robberies. As a Herald series revealed this year, some homeowners who reported that there property had been burgled never saw a police patrol.