Ryall Tony: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Ryall Tony: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:624;Page:19119] 
11.  
Hon TONY RYALL (National—Bay Of Plenty) 
 to the  
Minister of Police 
: How many staff were employed at the police communications centres as at 1 March for each year since 2001? 
Hon PHIL GOFF (Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade) 
 on behalf of the 
 Minister of Police 
: I am advised that the total staff numbers in the communications service centres were as follows: 316 on 1 March 2001 324 on 1 March 2002 330 on 1 March 2003 341 on 1 March 2004 and 339 on 1 March 2005. Further I am advised that two training wings totalling 28 staff are due to commence a 6-week training course next month which will take the expected total staff number to around 360 having regard for the possibility of staff turnover. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: When did the Minister first become aware that staff numbers in the police communications centres had dropped 23 since the month before Iraena Asher went missing and what did he say to the police commissioner? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: The figures I have read out to the member indicate that there has been a steady increase in staffing numbers at the communications centres up to the current date of 1 March—due I understand to staff turnover. But as I have indicated to the member the two training wings that are about to take place will take the staffing at the communications centres to the highest level ever. 
Ron Mark 
: Is the Minister from his last answer therefore confirming this email which says: “The com centre is back in the news. I hear that north coms has lost 24 staff in a 2-week period over January-February. The place cannot cope with that.”; and if that is a true reflection of the situation at the northern communications centre can the Minister tell the House how much better would the situation be today if his Government had approved the police’s original request in the year 2002 for 100 extra front-line response staff and for extra staff in all communications centres throughout New Zealand—a request that was denied in fact slashed to the bone? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: No I cannot confirm the anonymous email. The member has been shown in the House in the past to be wrong but I am happy to check it out if he wants to give it to me—preferably with the name of the person attached. I can tell the member that by the time those training wings are in there will be more than 40 extra staff compared with the number in March 2001 in the communications centre over a period of time when the crime rate has progressively trended down. In fact there is 22 percent less crime than when that member’s party was in coalition with the National Party. 
Marc Alexander 
: Given the response that the Minister gave to the first question why is he able to answer the primary question to the House but we have been unable to receive similar responses to written questions lodged by myself for which a response was due on 1 March? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: I have no knowledge of the written questions but if the member wants to give me a note I will check it out for him. 
Dave Hereora 
: What discretion does the Commissioner of Police have to allocate resources to areas of specific need? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: The commissioner has broad discretion to allocate and reallocate resources to meet his operational requirements. 
Ron Mark 
: Ring-fenced. 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: The member is quite wrong. There is a record annual budget of over $1.06 billion. There is a record complement of police officers approaching nearly 10000. If the police commissioner believes there is a need for more staffing in this area he of course has the discretion to respond to that. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: Can the Minister advise how many of the 339 staff that he advised were there on 1 March were in the national communications management group as opposed to being in the front-line communications centres? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: I do not know the answer to that. I can tell the member that the figures I have read out are comparing like with like. Those figures show that over a 5-year period there has been a steady increase—solid growth in the number of people employed in that unit—and that with the extra training wings that are to take place next month there will be a record number of people in that area something that that member’s party never achieved when it was in Government and the crime rate was higher. 
Ron Mark 
: Do the Minister and his Government not understand that bringing in new recruits who have no experience is no substitute for “that number of ex-cops who have come back to work there but after a length of time they too have walked away because of the demands and restrictions placed upon them” and is his failure to understand the value of experienced communicators reflected by the comment in the Police Association newsletter which we received yesterday that states: “This sort of thinking tends to suggest that the Minister is on another planet regarding being in touch with the realities of policing today.”; is that the truth? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: No I am afraid it is the member who does not understand this area very well. The member is saying we should be recruiting more experienced people into this communications centre. To be experienced they already have to be in it. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: Is the commissioner’s action in allowing the number of front-line call centre staff to fall from 362 the month before Iraena Asher disappeared to an estimated 334 on 1 March consistent with the Government’s policy of rejecting the police budget bid for a substantial boost in the number of call centre staff? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: The member’s figures are not consistent with the figures I have just given him. I prefer to rely on the figures the police have given me today. I remind the member that we have a record number of police staff a record police budget a record rate of police resolution and a record decline in crime. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: Does the Minister not actually realise that the problem is identified in the official information that the Minister of Police gave me yesterday which shows that the reason why we have these problems in the communications centres is that the police and the Government have allowed the numbers of front-line staff in the call centres to fall in the months since Iraena Asher disappeared; and what would have happened if those staff had been there when those calls were made? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: As I have pointed out there are dozens more staff there than when that member was Minister of Justice in the failed National Government. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: I seek leave to table information that it is clear the police have not provided to the acting Minister of Police: the answer to parliamentary question No. 2243 which does show significant decline in the number of front-line call centre staff since the month before Ms Asher disappeared. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? Yes there is. 
Ron Mark 
: I seek the leave of the House to table again a letter to the Minister of Police dated November 2002 that highlighted the problems front-line communications staff were having with understaffing—a letter the Minister did absolutely nothing about. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? Yes there is. The document will not be tabled.