$503m boost for police

Bill English has announced a $503 million crime-fighting package including a boost to police numbers in his first major speech of the year as Prime Minister.

Police will get 1125 extra staff over four years, including 880 extra sworn police officers.

"Evidence tells us that if we want to reduce offending we need to address the underlying drivers of dysfunction rather than just respond to all the symptoms," he told the Auckland Rotary at Auckland's Stamford Hotel today.

The package showed that the Government was prepared to invest up-front in programmes that delivered results.

Police Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett attended the meeting also.

Mr English said the package would increase total police staff numbers to more than 13,000 from 11,925 by June 2021, and total sworn police numbers to nearly 9800 from about 8900. He said the new measures were about "doing things smarter".

"Last year I visited Palmerston North and was told about a family that police had visited 87 times for family violence callouts in the previous year. Eighty-seven!

"So rather than continue to visit the house every couple of days, social service agencies, working with police, got together and identified one aunty the father would listen to. They worked with her to support the family.

"The following year, those 87 callouts dropped to only one. That's what I mean about doing things smarter.

"We are unashamedly targeting offenders to ensure they are off our streets by providing additional resources for police to resolve more crime, and target criminal gangs and organised crime."

Prime Minister Bill English with his deputy, Paula Bennett. Photo: NZ Herald
Prime Minister Bill English with his deputy, Paula Bennett. Photo: NZ Herald

Mr English said the Government was also providing additional resources to address the underlying drivers of crime through preventative work by the police and greater investment in rehabilitation for prisoners.

"This large investment is possible only because of New Zealanders' hard work to build a strong economy, backed by the Government's plan to create economic opportunities and get our books back in order.

"While the increase in police numbers is important, what really matters is ensuring it delivers better results for the community."

The package will include:

•  A 24-hour phone number for non-emergencies.

•  Assigning 140 more officers for up to 20 regional and rural police stations, which means 95 per cent of the population lives within 25 km of a 24/7 police presence.

• 140 additional specialist investigators for child protection, sexual assault, family violence and other serious crime - although 66 have been previously announced in last year's family violence package.

• 80 additional officers to target organised crime, gangs and methamphetamine.

• 20 additional ethnic liaison officers for Chinese, Indian and other communities.

• Extending the availability of the Eagle helicopter to around the clock with the response time of 10-15 minutes - at present it is available at prescheduled times for only 1800 hours a year.

• 12 mobile policing units to respond to need including small towns, rural areas and community events.

Police Commissioner Mike Bush said represented a very significant and welcome investment in New Zealand Police.

“This investment increases our workforce by almost 10 percent over four years. I look forward to welcoming the 1125 new police staff who will help us achieve our mission of being the safest country.

"They will join a very committed team who are working hard to keep our communities safe."

Mr Bush said the investment would see an increase in resourcing for every police district.

PM reveals personal details

The Prime Minister also revealed more about his upbringing and how it has shaped his political outlook.

"As some of you know, I was brought up in Southland, a place where hard work and farm skills were respected more than profit, and where no one could do it all on their own," Bill English said.

"I got my politics around our large dining table growing up, and from my mother who ran a farm, raised 12 children and was a serial community activist.

"By the early 1980s, I was a new, keen and highly indebted young farmer. Interest rates were around 17 per cent, but farm costs were held down by wage and price freezes.

"That wasn't sustainable and just papered over the economic problems that had built up over a number of years.

"The economy had to be restructured. My community was hit hard as farm subsidies were wiped.

"I made lots of financial and farm management mistakes. But with the help of family and a lot of hard work, we stayed on our feet.

"Many New Zealand families had similar experiences in other industries, as jobs were lost and they struggled to rethink where they fitted in a country that had suddenly changed. We thought the world owed us a living. It didn't.

"I learned then that business and families in a small trading country like ours needs to continuously adapt in small steps - and that government should back Kiwis to do just that, focusing on resilience and aspiration rather than fear and isolation."

"As a new MP in 1990, I saw the deep-seated resilience of our rural families and communities as they rebuilt their skills and their confidence.

"I saw the same qualities in the big city when I married into a Samoan Italian family.

"I must admit the scruffy unemployed farm worker who turned up on the arm of their eldest daughter wasn't quite what Mary's parents had in mind as a son-in-law - but I think that has come right in the past couple of months.

"From them I saw the grit and determination it takes to feed and educate a large family, own a home and win respect when starting afresh in a new country.

"Mary and I have raised six children of our own. Along with the hundreds of families we've met through school, church, relatives and dozens of sports teams, we've shared the experience of working multiple jobs, getting everyone everywhere on time, finding time to spend with the children and each other - and for enough sleep - as well as answering the hardest question of all every day: what's for dinner and who is cooking it?

"The people who shaped my life are resilient and capable."

 

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