Ex-officer: Too much focus on tickets

File photo / Martin Sykes

A retired Southland police officer has condemned the road policing policy that he says has too much focus on revenue gathering.

Phil Robertson, a senior constable at Te Anau, retired last week after 34 years on the force, to take up a job with St John Ambulance but also because of dissatisfaction with road policing policy, the Southland Times reported.

He said as a highway patrol officer there was too much preoccupation with ticket numbers, an "easy route" that is not the only way to stop driving offences and road deaths.

"I just don't see monetary fines or a requirement for every officer to issue, on average, 1500 tickets a year as being enough of a deterrent."

More needed to be done to change driver behaviour and the existing policy was not working, he said.

Southern police district road policing manager Inspector Andrew Burns rejected Mr Robertson's claims, though he acknowledged there was an expectation for highway patrol officers to issue an amount of tickets.

But it was one of several different performance measures for staff, indicating an officer was where they were meant to be and that they were doing their job, he said.

- NZPA