Hawkins: why pay police trainees?

By EUGENE BINGHAM

Police Minister George Hawkins is questioning why police recruits receive a salary and have their student fees paid while other trainees have to fork out for themselves.

"I have people who say to me, 'My daughter wants to be a teacher. She has to pay for her training but you pay for the police training and their university fees. Where's the fairness in that?' " Mr Hawkins said yesterday.

He has asked Commissioner Rob Robinson to review all areas of police expenditure.

"We're not taking money away but what we're looking at is whether the taxpayer is getting value for money," said Mr Hawkins.

Recruits spend 19 weeks fulltime at the Royal NZ Police College in Porirua followed by about two years as probationary officers on the beat. During that time, they must complete four university papers.

While at college, they receive an average of $27,000 a year, then move on to about $40,000.

"We may be pleasantly surprised that we have good staff coming out of the college because we have good training, but what I've said to the police is don't just take it for granted - check it out," said Mr Hawkins.

With the memory lingering of the last Government's costly police review, the Police Association was last night taken aback.

National secretary Chris Pentecost said that cutting the recruits' wage and making them pay for university courses would alter the mix of people entering the force.



National's police spokesman, Brian Neeson, said training should not be compared with that of teachers or nurses.

"The police force is a service that is more comparable to the armed forces. Is [Mr Hawkins] saying Army recruits should also pay for the privilege of their training?"