17 September 2008
Deputy Police Commissioner Lyn Provost said today she was very pleased the last wave of the additional new 1250 police staff had been allocated to the districts and service centres.
"The significant investment in policing has provided an excellent opportunity to improve the safety for all communities in New Zealand," said Lyn Provost.
"Despite the decreases in reported crime rates over recent years several high profile incidents have contributed to fear and insecurity for many. This additional investment, amounting to $180 million per annum will enable a targeted set of deployments contributing to both preventing crime and responding quickly and effectively when crime occurs.
"The decision on how best to deploy the new staff involved the entire Police Executive with District Commanders providing significant input to the final deployment decisions.
"I am aware there are a variety of views about the best deployment options. Sworn Police officers working in response, CIB and Road Policing roles are critical to the success of New Zealand Police and do a fantastic job in an increasingly difficult environment. Allocations of 210 to GDB, 193 to CIB/Organised Crime and 133 to Road Policing reflect this importance.
"Increasingly in policing there are many different roles that contribute significantly to the outcomes of Police. These include roles dedicated to reducing crime by improving the interaction with communities such as the allocation of 273 staff to community focussed policing and 84 staff into youth and family roles.
"Specialists such as cyber-crime experts, crime scene attenders, prosecutors, and communication centre call takers have received a boost in numbers and will make a significant difference.
"Obviously the Police Executive have attempted to get as many of the staff as possible into operational roles but the fact remains that the significant growth in our operating capacity needs to be backed by the logistical and support functions to keep the machine working smoothly and thus the investment in Information Communications Technology, Human Resources and other administrative functions.
"This significant allocation of new staff is a huge positive for NZ Police and we look forward to cementing them in place and building on some excellent results achieved to date," said Lyn Provost.