Acting District Commander, Justin Rogers has welcomed the 87 officers allocated to Northland District today by Police Commissioner Mike Bush.
The new staff are allocated as part of the 1800 additional Police funded through a $298.8 million increase in Budget 2018 that built on an increase from the previous year. The new staff will be in place no later than June 2023, and potentially sooner if recruitment and further funding is provided in Budget 2019.
“This boost in Police numbers will have a positive impact on our ability to prevent crime and victimisation, target and catch offenders and deliver a more responsive community focused Police service to the people and visitors of Northland,” says Inspector Rogers.
“We will be able to solve more burglaries and other crime and increase our visibility and accessibility to the public. These new officers will give us the capacity to improve our services to child protection and victims of sexual assault and we will have more staff to target serious crimes, organised crime and continue the fight against methamphetamine supply and demand.”
In addition to increasing frontline officers to prevent and respond to crime and calls for service, Northland will establish a new Precision Targeting Team that will focus on priority and prolific offenders to reduce crime affecting local communities.
The allocation also includes the introduction of a Serious and Organised Crime Taskforce in order to combat and prevent gang-related crime such as methamphetamine supply, violence and intimidation, and other serious offending.
“Policing across Northland will benefit from today’s announced increase in resources – a 25% increase in Police numbers for our district. We will be deploying these new staff, as they come on board, to make sure Northland people and visitors to the area are safe and feel safe.”
Inspector Rogers says it is also a great opportunity for those wanting to support Northland’s communities to consider applying to be a Police recruit. Those interested can go to the www.newcops.co.nz website.
All 12 District Commanders will now be working with their leadership teams to determine deployment decision at an area and station level. These decisions will be communicated to communities once confirmed.
ENDS
Issued by Police Media Centre