Dean Jacqui: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Dean Jacqui: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 12 March 2013. Volume:688;Page:8456. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
JACQUI DEAN (National—Waitaki) 
: 
 The Minister of Police Anne Tolley is committed to New Zealanders being able to feel safe in their homes and feel safe in their communities. National is also committed to providing better public services so this Government has set Public Service targets in the fight against crime. We want to reduce overall crime rates by 15 percent we want to reduce violent crime by 20 percent and we want to reduce youth crime by 5 percent by 2017. In order to achieve these targets the police are getting the tools they need to spend more time on crime prevention and less time on paperwork. 
Police now have new ways of working with the Prevention First and Policing Excellence programmes. Prevention First is the operating strategy for the New Zealand Police that puts prevention at the forefront of the organisation and puts victims at the centre. The strategy focuses on targeted policy aimed at reducing reoffending and reducing victimisation. Gone are the days when a couple of cops would drive out of the cop station and toss a coin to decide whether to turn left or to turn right to proceed with their night’s work. Prevention First requires police to work with community services and with community networks to protect vulnerable people to act with urgency against priority and prolific offenders and to use innovative and practical solutions to manage crime hot spots wherever they occur. 
Last year several of us saw for ourselves the actions of Counties Manukau police in managing gangs in neighbourhoods where the shopping centre was besieged by a gang in this street and another gang in this street and yet another gang in another street with community members and kids wanting to access the local dairy having to first negotiate those warring gangs. Counties Manukau police with their Prevention First strategy take that issue very seriously. Together with the local community and networks they have now made that particular corner of Auckland safe again for those people who live there and make that neighbourhood their home. We also saw Counties Manukau police do a tin can collection so that they could deliver food to local kids because it was the school holidays and the police knew that hungry kids were kids who tended to get into trouble. That approach is part of Policing Excellence a series of initiatives that will enable the Police Commissioner to better manage crime and offending within New Zealand. 
Front-line police patrols have risen by 70 percent in the last year. That is more officers on the beat being deployed more strategically in areas at times when police know there is a greater risk of crime taking place. Police are now trialling the use of smartphones and tablets so that they can access input and share information immediately without having to travel back to the station to access databases or to write reports. That not only provides for efficiency within the New Zealand Police but also enhances the safety for our New Zealand Police as they are able to quickly and efficiently access information that they may need about an alleged offender whom they are dealing with out on the street. So the police will be able to provide a better more efficient and more visible service to the public. 
Offenders I might suggest are now on notice. There are 600 more police on the front line focused on having the right people in the right place and at the right time to prevent crime. Thanks to the work of the Minister the Police Commissioner and serving officers we now have the lowest crime rate in 30 years and we are on track to achieving those Public Service targets. In the past 2 fiscal years we have seen crime rates drop by 5.6 percent and 7 percent respectively. Thank you. 
Report noted.