Statement of Intent 2007/2008 - New Zealand Police

New Zealand Police Statement of Intent 2007/2008


Minister’s Foreword

A safe, confident and fair community is one in which families, young and old, can participate fully in society, and individuals can realise their personal potential. Similarly, the activities of legitimate business are fostered in an environment where crime is effectively reduced and prevented. The safety of communities makes a vital contribution to achieving the Government’s goal of building a sustainable nation.

Society is changing and the demands on New Zealand Police (Police) are changing with it. The organisation is responding strategically and rapidly to these changes. It is building both its strategic planning capability and its service delivery capability to provide modern and effective Police services. The legislative basis for policing in New Zealand - the Police Act 1958 - is being reviewed this year along with an extensive consultation process. A new Bill will be drafted to give Police a modern and flexible legal framework through which to deliver world class Police services.

Police is working with an increasing range of government agencies and sectors to achieve shared outcomes in developing effective responses to crime and safety issues. This whole-of-government work focuses on joint strategic planning and operational collaboration between Police and other agencies - in particular those that comprise the justice, transport, defence and international sectors within the overall state sector.

The organisational development goals, set out in Police’s Strategic Plan to 2010, are challenging. The Statement of Intent 2007/2008 describes how Police intend to achieve higher levels of organisational capability and performance over the next five years. It sets out how Police activities will support the Government’s policy goals and meet its expectations.

Hon Annette King
Minister of Police

Commissioner’s introduction

This Statement of Intent describes how we intend to manage for outcomes, focus our resources on achieving those outcomes, and improve our organisational capability to achieve the Government’s goals for families, the economy, and for New Zealand’s national identity.

Significant developments are underway in policing in New Zealand and we aim to be a modern and world class Police service. Two significant changes over the coming three years will be the increase in Police resources with the addition of 1250 new staff, and the development of proposals for new legislation to replace our current, and now outdated, empowering legislation - the Police Act 1958.

Our ability to respond to public calls for assistance, for instance, has been improved through changes made to the 111 services, and further significant improvements will occur when the SNEN (Single Non Emergency Number) system is (subject to Government approval) implemented nationally over the next two years. SNEN is in the final stages of development and will give reliable nationwide service 24/7 allowing calls to be given suitable priority, thus relieving pressure on the 111 emergency service.

We have commenced a comprehensive strategic planning process that will re-engineer major parts of our work so that we can focus on providing those services that deliver the greatest community safety benefits. In 2006 this has included the identification of new outcomes for Police and the justice sector, the development of “Policing with Confidence”, the New Zealand Way (our Strategic Plan to 2010), and participation in the Effective Interventions work being undertaken by justice sector agencies.

The Effective Interventions work involves rigorous analysis of justice sector agencies’ current interventions to find better ways of using the overall resources of the criminal justice system. The major aims are to reduce the (currently) rising prison population and the over-representation of Māori and Pacific people in the criminal justice system. The three core elements in this work are the smarter use of prisons, finding suitable alternatives to prisons and tilting the balance of justice sector agencies’ services towards earlier interventions that can reduce crime. Interventions that are found to be effective in achieving these three results have the potential to significantly lower the costs that crime imposes on the community and on taxpayers, through reducing the investment required in building prisons and the costs of operating them. Police is directly supporting this analytical work and will implement changes to policing that are shown to be more effective in achieving these results.

Our strategic planning framework aligns directly with Police outcomes, and with justice sector outcomes, and is structured under three key themes: community reassurance, policing with confidence and organisational development. We will be working to achieve results in each of these areas over the next three years. The overall 2007/2008 priorities are summarised later in this Statement of Intent, however highlights under these three themes are:

Community reassurance - working better with communities to meet their policing needs, by:

  • implementing new models of community policing, especially in higher risk neighbourhoods and streets, to engage with communities and find community safety solutions that are “in tune” with their needs and thus more likely to work
  • engaging with Māori iwi, hapu and representative groups to identify shared safety and policy concerns and to develop suitable responses (that will be supported by Police) that can improve their safety and promote the positive involvement of Māori people with the criminal justice system
  • developing effective youth development initiatives and supporting suitable new initiatives in high risk areas that focus on providing opportunities for youth to choose positive pathways for their lives.

Policing with confidence - being more effective in preventing and reducing crime, road trauma and victimisation, by:

  • improving adult sexual assault investigation in collaboration with other agencies to ensure a consistently high quality nationwide victim support service
  • implementing a nationally consistent approach to family violence supported by technology that enables risk to be better assessed and responded to developing an improved management decision-making framework for major policing decisions (eg: to search, obtain a warrant, arrest, detain, prosecute, divert etc) that is consistent with the Effective Interventions philosophy for obtaining best value from policing resources
  • lifting investigation standards through improving investigative skills, decision-making and tactics, which also will be supported by relevant case management technology.

Organisational development - developing the capability needed to be an effective organisation, by:

  • implementing a Code of Conduct for all Police staff - aspects of our required standards need to be revised and more clearly specified better use of technology - we will implement innovative front-line tools to improve our effectiveness on the street
  • leadership development - further developing our leadership framework and investing in our current and future leaders.

Police has served the community very well in the past and will continue to do so through developing its policing service to fit 21st century conditions. I know that all staff of Police share the commitment, and have the ability to make effective contributions, to our Police outcomes and the Government’s wider goals.

Howard Broad
Commissioner of Police

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Table of contents

Part A - Overview of our strategy
1. Minister’s foreword
2. Commissioner’s introduction
3. Police organisation
4. The work of Police
5. Environment
6. Strategic directions
The Government’s priorities
State sector strategy and Police contribution
Police outcomes framework
7. Working across the whole-of-government
8. Organisational development
9. Police approach to managing risk
Part B - forecast financial statements and output expenses
Statement of Responsibility
Forecast Financial Statements
Statement of Accounting Policies
Statement of Forecast Service Performance - Output Performance
1. Policy Advice and Ministerial Servicing
2. General Crime Prevention Services
3. Specific Crime Prevention Services and Maintenance of Public Order
4. Police Primary Response Management
5. Investigations
6. Case Resolution and Support to Judicial Process
7. Road Safety Programme

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