Police recruitment campaign falters

new-zealand-national-party

Mon May 21 2007 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Police recruitment campaign falters

Monday, 21 May 2007, 9:36 am
Press Release: New Zealand National Party

Chester Borrows MP
National Party Police Spokesman

21 May 2007

Despite the Labour NZ-First Government’s pledge to hire 1,000 more frontline police, the number of people making inquiries about joining is declining, according to information obtained by National’s Police spokesman, Chester Borrows.

“In 2003, 7,707 people rang the 0800 NEWCOPS phone line, but by last year this had dropped by a quarter to 5,811.

“This was despite a spike in the number of calls in November (778) coinciding with the start of Government’s ‘Better Work Stories’ recruitment campaign.”

Police told Parliament’s Law and Order Select Committee last year that the ratio of calls for information that actually result in recruitment is 7%.

They said: ‘If historical rates are used as a guide, Police will need approximately 10,000 to 15,000 calls for information for each of the next three financial years. The increase in spending on recruitment advertising is designed to achieve these rates.’

“If the target of the ‘Better Work Stories’ campaign was 10,000 calls to yield 700 recruits, then you’d have to say that so far it is struggling,” says Mr Borrows.

Interest in the ‘Better Work Stories’ website is also plummeting, with the number of hits down by almost 80%, from 87,219 in November to 18,400 in March, and the number of individual sessions down from 4,473 to 1,921.

The site was launched last year at a cost of $30,000.

Mr Borrows recently issued documents showing that the Government was already below target for the number of recruits needed for the current financial year.

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“That is what happens when police are forced to try to meet the unrealistic expectations foisted on them through political deals, rather than a well-thought-through policy.

“National’s policy at the last election was to increase the number of frontline police, but we have consistently questioned whether the gimmick of 1,000 extra cops was sustainable.

“After all, it was Helen Clark who said before the last election: “Some political parties are promising thousands of new police. Such promises are simply not credible'. "

ENDS

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