Nearly $1m spent over six years repairing Central District police vehicles

Photo / file

Almost $1,000,000 has been spent repairing Central District police vehicles during the past six years, fresh statistics show.

Since September 2009, a total of $862,049 has been spent repairing damage to police vehicles, according to information released under the Official Information Act by New Zealand Police.

By the start of April this year, $10,339 had been racked up in repair costs. Repairs cost $266,086 in 2014 - the highest amount spent in any year since 2009.

Central District road policing manager, inspector Dave White, said police crashes and damage to police vehicles were inevitable given how much time officers spent driving on New Zealand roads.

"In the Central District, there are currently 776 staff and 270 vehicles which are in use across a range of roles," he said.

"While ideally we would like there to be zero crashes, considering that our staff are on the road 24 hours a day, seven days a week, covering hundreds of kilometres every day in all weather conditions and terrains, it is inevitable that from time to time there will be crashes and vehicle damage."

The data also showed a total of 11 vehicles has been completely written off during that time period.

Mr White said officers were however, well trained behind the wheel.

"All police officers are trained to a very high standard through the Professional Police Driver Programme (PPDP), introduced in 2004.

"All recruits undergo intensive driver training, with nine full days of training carried out at the RNZPC. All police drivers are assessed over one-and-a-half days every three years and can have their classifications suspended or downgraded if there are any breaches or concerns," he said.

Nationwide, more than $12.7 million was spent on fixing police vehicles from 2009 to date, while 126 vehicles were rendered unreparable.

As of July 2013 there were 3200 police vehicles in operation throughout New Zealand - including police speed camera vans.

President of NZ Police Association Greg O'Connor said police had experienced problems with people deliberately damaging police vehicles, driving up repair costs.

"Those figures are not really surprising, considering how many thousands of hours are done on the road and particularly since, recently, so many of the pranks have been people deliberately ramming police cars. It has been an issue particularly with boy racers," he said.

Repair costs on Central District police vehicles

2009: $58,449

2010: $129,750

2011: $156,471

2012: $149,676

2013: $91,332

2014: $266,086

2015-to-date: $10,339

- Source: NZ Police