Editorial: Police fight for better pay impacts all Kiwis

New Zealand police welcoming 51 new frontline officers to the force.

EDITORIAL

Numbers supplied to RNZ through the Official Information Act (OIA) have revealed that the police abandoned 572,037 of the cases reported to them last year.

That is more than half of all cases reported to the police.

The numbers in the OIA also give an insight into the volume of work the police do in New Zealand and how that volume is trending upwards: in total, the police received 962,521 emergency calls and reports in 2023, up 50 per cent from 2019.

The OIA also showed that, of the cases reported to the police last year, 179,957 were closed without any investigation at all.

Another 244,312 cases were abandoned after all “reasonable” avenues of inquiry were exhausted, meaning officers had done everything they could but had not identified a suspect.

The remaining 147,768 cases were abandoned at police discretion, meaning the police decided not to pursue the investigation despite there still being avenues. A total of 15 per cent of cases were closed at police discretion in 2023, doubling from 7.5 per cent in 2019.

At the same time, police officers in New Zealand are locked in lengthy negotiations over wage increases, with no agreement in sight.

Last month, the Government made an offer including a $5000 general wage increase backdated from November 1, 2023, and a 5.25 per cent in police allowances. That would have been followed by a general wage increase of 4 per cent from September 1, 2024, with an allowance increase of 4 per cent, followed by another pay increase of 4 per cent from July 1, 2025, accompanied by an allowance increase of 4 per cent.

One officer labelled the offer as “insulting”.

Struggling to make ends meet, some officers rely on the kindness of the public. In Canterbury, police officers are collecting food donations for colleagues “struggling” with the cost of living.

A box asking for "discreet" donation and collection of non-perishable items has been placed in a Christchurch police station.

“The Government should be embarrassed that cops need food donations to live. No one I know joins a job to go into a food bank queue,” a serving officer said.

The fight for better pay has also reached a new level with it receiving support from an unlikely source: a senior Black Power member.

Denis O’Reilly - a lifetime Black Power member - has publicly backed the country’s sworn police officers to be recognised for the work they do, and the dangers they face, by being rewarded with a pay rise.

O’Reilly told the Herald he fears that if police officers didn’t receive the pay bump they deserved, it would make the job increasingly unattractive and could lead to a drop in the quality and integrity of prospective recruits.

Black Power lifetime member Denis O'Reilly says not giving police a pay rise that matters could have big repercussions. Photo / NZME

Last month, the Herald revealed that dozens of frustrated frontline police officers are waiting for sign-off from the New Zealand police force to head to Australia for higher-paying jobs, thousands of dollars in sign-on fees and relocation costs.

The Herald confirmed that of the 200 police officers who resigned from the New Zealand police last year, 50 are already working as police officers across the Tasman, and another 70 are waiting to leave New Zealand, with promises of tax-free sign-on fees as well as relocation costs of up to $25,000. A police source said 25 officers from the Counties-Manukau police hub are in that waiting group.

New Zealand’s police force is already under a lot of pressure, as these latest numbers show, and the issue has a direct impact on the lives and safety of everyone in New Zealand.

If we lose officers because they moved to Australia or decided to change careers, the thin blue line will only get thinner.