Police at the scene of a serious incident in Albany, Auckland, last night. Photo / Hayden Woodward
Police at the scene of a serious incident in Albany, Auckland, last night. Photo / Hayden Woodward
OPINION
Police and the Government are being cagey about how they’ve reached the 1800 “new cops” milestone, and have yet to provide a full breakdown and explain a rather convenient spike in constabulary staff in the weeks leading up to the announcement.
Police have also failed to clear up how what they describe as “other movements” within the force - which includes officers returning from maternity leave or secondments - helped to make up the numbers.
Police Minister Ginny Andersen’s office initially told NZME they could provide a full breakdown of officer numbers. They then referred NZME to police, saying they did not have it at hand. The minister’s office was approached on Monday to talk about the numbers and did not respond to a request for comment
The lack of transparency over the numbers has raised too many questions and left the Opposition suspicious over whether the 1800 target was even met.
Since 2017, when the promise was first made, the total force has grown on average by 26 officers per month but in just the 32 days leading up to the Government’s announcement at a police graduation on June 1, the force had grown by whopping 157 officers.
It was the highest single monthly growth of any month since the Government came to power.
Two police college wings graduated between April 31 and June 1, bolstering the numbers by 138. This was helped by just 29 constabulary staff leaving in the month of May but also a convenient 20 per cent jump in Authorised Officers (AOs).
It means that of the 10,709 constabulary staff that now make up the total police force, 525 have no arrest powers - 53 of which were unusually recruited and trained just weeks before the announcement was made.
The purpose for a sudden increase in Authorised Officers - other than to strategically bolster numbers - is yet to be seen.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins at the latest police graduation with Police Minister Ginny Andersen and Commissioner Andrew Coster. Photo / Mark Mitchell
While police provided some information about the number of AOs included in the count, which was reported last week, they refused to expand on exactly how many of the remaining roles were filled by “other movements” and said the inquiry would need to be filed under the Offical Information Act.
The Government would have been tracking the figures closely. During an interview with Q+A in early May, Andersen teased the goal was within reach leaving the likes of the Police Association surprised.
In the May edition of the Police magazine, President Chris Cahill quoted they were “on track to achieve 1800″ but not for at least another two months with numbers at the time still a way off.
It’s left the opposition wondering if the Government “fudged the numbers”.
“On the face of it right now, you’d have to come to that conclusion,” National’s police spokesman Mark Mitchell told the Herald. “It just doesn’t add up.
“They need to be able to explain it and they need to go into a lot more depth and part of the problem that they’ve got is they’re mudding the waters because they’re not being transparent.”
National Police spokesman Mark Mitchell during Question Time in Parliament. Photo / Mark Mitchell
The Government has repeatedly called the policy an “investment in frontline police” and claimed “more cops on the beat” should mean New Zealanders feel safer amid a surge in crime.
On Wednesday, Andersen was pushed during question time on defining what she considered an officer on the beat to be.
She responded that “the frontline of crime had changed over time”.
“I consider chasing the money, taking assets off criminals, and crippling criminal networks to be an effective tool and that’s exactly what these Authorised Officers are able to do,” she said.
While acknowledging the work AOs did to support the frontline, National said branding them as “on the beat” was deceptive.
“They’re not frontline police officers, they can’t respond to a ram raid, they can’t respond to an aggravated robbery, they can’t respond to a domestic incident. They don’t have the powers of arrest,” Mitchell said.
“It’s been their biggest policy announcement, it’s been basically the only policy announcement in response to the growing violent crime in this country, and they deceived the public.”
While the wait continues for proof of exactly how the Government and police have managed to pull off the extraordinary - against all odds and in time for the upcoming election - one thing that’s clear, is that the public deserves answers.
