Cop numbers fall behind population growth

new-zealand-labour-party

Wed Aug 03 2016 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Cop numbers fall behind population growth

Wednesday, 3 August 2016, 12:20 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party

Stuart Nash
MP for Napier
Police Spokesperson

3 August 2016

The ratio of police officers to members of the public is falling, making the job of policing this country even harder, says Labour’s Police spokesperson Stuart Nash.

“As crime increased last year, the number of police officers fell by 15 while New Zealand’s population rose by 78,000.

“Since 2008, the number of police officers has increased by just 274 while New Zealand’s population has increased by 274,000.

“That’s just one extra police officer for every thousand additional Kiwis. John Key and Judith Collins promised to fund better than one officer for every 500 New Zealanders but, once again, they’ve failed to deliver.

“National has funded only half the additional cops needed to keep up with population growth.

“This is not enough when the number of assaults and burglaries are mushrooming. In the past year, there was a 6 per cent rise in assaults and a 14 per cent rise in burglaries.

“This is putting a huge stress on the police force who have been told there will be no staffing increases until 2020.

“Judith Collins has to back our boys in blue and make sure we have enough police to keep our communities safe,” says Stuart Nash.

Population

Constabulary (FTE)

ratio

2008/09

4,281,100

8774

488

2009/10

4,330,400

8790

493

2010/11

4,371,600

8856

494

2011/12

4,398,500

8940

492

2012/13

4,425,600

8782

504

2013/14

4,476,300

9063

494

2014/15

4,554,700

9048

503

change 2008/09-2014/15

273,600

274

999

change 2013/14-2014/15

78,400

-15

-5227

ends

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