Acting Senior Sergeant recruitment lead Toni Wall said since May last year, the Southern police district had received about 56 graduates from the Royal New Zealand Police College (RNZPC).
Snr Sgt Wall said those new constables were now stationed in Dunedin, Oamaru, Balclutha, Alexandra, Queenstown, Wānaka, Gore and in wider Southland.
"We’re very happy with the number of people applying from Southern district," she said.
An increase in capacity for how many new recruits could enter the RNZPC at one time meant more new officers for everyone, including the South.
Strong application numbers and a focus on growing the number of frontline officers by 500 meant New Zealand Police had the largest number of applicants accepted into RNZPC for at least the last 20 years, since records began.
"Wing 388, which is currently at RNZPC and graduates in October this year, currently has 16 people coming back to the Southern district, which is the most we’ve ever had in one recruit wing since our records began."
She said the increase in numbers was in part due to having two new fulltime district recruitment leads in Southern.
"Having two full-time recruitment staff based locally has enabled more proactive seminars, expos, information evenings, promotion in local secondary schools, tertiary institutions, the Ministry of Social Development and engagement with ethnic and diverse communities."
Snr Sgt Wall said they now also had more one-on-one support for recruits, and they had been working hard helping people with any questions they may have had, and getting prepared for all they would need to get through the process.
"More people applying to join the police is ... a great thing — the standards for joining police are high and more applications gives us a better chance of applicants being accepted into police college.
"We are also finding we are getting a more diverse range of applicants such as age, gender, ethnicity, backgrounds, skill sets, which is exactly what we want so that our officers are a reflection of the communities they serve," she said.
Snr Sgt Wall said there were over 30 different career paths in more than 300 locations across New Zealand to choose from in police, and everyone could find something that suited them.
"Policing is a very rewarding career."
