Mark Ron: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Mark Ron: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:610;Page:7140] 
7.  
RON MARK (NZ First) 
 to the  
Minister of Police 
: What is the current clearance rate of all reported crime? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS (Minister of Police) 
: 
 For the fiscal year 2001-02 it was 41.8 percent. The latest clearance rate of all reported crime will be included in the release of official police fiscal year statistics for the year 2002-03. I am confident that the police will achieve another very good result. 
Ron Mark 
: Does the Minister believe that the overall figure of a 41 percent clearance rate is acceptable; if so why? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: Yes I think it is improving all the time. It was not that long ago that the clearance rate was 29.8 percent in the year 1991-92. 
Dr Muriel Newman 
: What is the Minister’s response to the fact that there have been 2000 more violent crimes than last year and that there has been a 108 percent increase in violent crime over the last 10 years; what do he and this Government intend to do about it? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: During the 2002-03 year the police have been concentrating on getting violent crime down. I think there is still too much violence going on in people’s homes and that is where the problem is. 
Martin Gallagher 
: Further to the Minister’s answers and following his information about the increase in the resolution rate can he indicate what the increase in the resolution rate signifies? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: The police have been making very steady progress over a number of years. As I said earlier the rate was 29.8 percent in the 1991-92 financial year and it went up to 41.8 percent in the 2001-02 year. I think one must reflect that in the period of the previous National Government the rate did not get anywhere near 40 percent. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: What responsibility does the Minister take for the fact that fewer than one in 10 burglaries in Auckland is solved the lowest rate on record and is part of the reason that in parts of Auckland it may take up to 27 hours to get the police to respond to a burglary call-out? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: This Government has got the burglary rate down to very low figures compared with previously. Under National the rate got up to 96000 burglaries a year. We are down to about 60000 burglaries a year which is excellent. Of course the police do have a standard time in which to try to attend those burglaries whereas under National it used to be 5 or 8 days before the police got around to investigating some of them. 
Ron Mark 
: Can the House take it from the Minister that in accepting that six out of 10 crimes will go unresolved he and this Government have given up the battle against crimes of dishonesty property and theft against private citizens; and does that explain why his primary focus is now on revenue collection through the enlargement of the traffic branch of the police force and the instructions that have been given to general duties officers that regardless of the crimes they are investigating on the day they are required to give out one traffic infringement notice per hour regardless of anything else they are doing? 
Mr SPEAKER 
: That question was too long and there were too many parts to it. The Minister will comment on a couple of them if he wishes. 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: I remind the member that there was a 29.8 percent clearance rate for 1991-92 when New Zealand First’s leader was in Government; under the Labour Government it is 41.8 percent. The police do not have quotas for traffic offences. We want our roads to be a helluva lot safer than they were under National. 
Ron Mark 
: Can I take it from the Minister that his own department’s figures which show that the clearance rates in Auckland for the last 3 years have been 33.9 percent 32.8 percent and 32.6 percent—all declining—are acceptable to him? They are certainly not to the rest of the country. 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: I find that the clearance rate has improved over many years throughout New Zealand and I would like Auckland to reflect that. The police are working on it and they have been funded and have more resources than ever before to do that. They are now a billion-dollar business. 
Ron Mark 
: I seek leave to table the New Zealand crime statistics and specifically the Auckland figures. 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: I seek leave to table a report that shows that the Government is budgeting for a 30 percent increase in the number of traffic tickets issued by police officers this year. 
Document not tabled.