Andersen GinnyHon GINNY ANDERSEN (Minister of Police): Some parties in this House just whinge and moan and others just get on with the job of looking after Kiwis and taking care of bread and butter issues. One of those issues is making sure that our communities stay safe. The best way of doing that is to make sure our police service is well resourced. That is exactly what this Government is doing. By June this year we will reach the target of 1800 additional police officers. And that's what we are doing right now.When I've been travelling around the districts and meeting with front-line officers it's been really good to see where those resources are being used and the differences that they are making in our communities. It's important that we give our police officers not only the tools but also the resources to keep our communities safe. Let's do some sums—in terms of where we are in ratios—if we want to talk about some comparisons. So in 2008 when the Labour Government left back then it was one police officer for 515 New Zealanders; by the end of 2017 when National left office we're at one police officer for 548 gone up that much; and now in 2023 one police officer for 486. A huge drop there in terms of being able to provide better-quality policing services and keeping our communities safer. I remember as a non-sworn employee of New Zealand Police when there was a policy on sinking lids for the non-sworn staff. Each day when you would come to work there'd be an empty desk that would not be re-employed. It got to the point where the person who was the executive assistant—doing the emails for the district commander—was a senior sergeant. In my view the job of a senior sergeant is in charge of their section out in the community not doing the emails of a district commander. Of those 1800 additional police officers 700 are specifically devoted to organised crime. When I visited Rotorua and met with police officers up there it was great to see that they had used those resources specifically for gang harm reduction within the communities by having established connections and by using their intel it is assisting to resolve homicides quicker particularly in those ones that are tough to resolve in gang communities. I'd like to talk also a little bit about another police operation that's been going on for a while now which is Cobalt. Cobalt is able to run successfully due to the fact that we've got 700 additional police officers. So since 13 June 2022 to 21 March of this year the searches that have been completed under Operation Cobalt are 1586—963 of those were warranted. That has resulted in over 30000 charges targeted at gangs and organised crime. The number of firearms seized as a result of that work is 358 seized. That is important. But not only is it important that we make sure our front line are resourced it's just as important that they are safe. That is why this Government has invested in the Tactical Response Model keeping front lines safe combining equipment and capability with intel. So they are deploying to demand and making sure that they have the resources in place and even doubling the number of dog teams when they go out—instead of just one—and double the amount of tactical training providing additional services in that space and being able to respond to crime quicker. It's been interesting. I keep a close eye on retail crime and it has been good to see—in every instance I've watched recently—that those offenders have been quickly brought to account and police have acted quickly. Part of that I believe is the fact that that's the resourcing in place to enable our police service to do their job well.In terms of retail crime it's also important that we make sure our small businesses are looked after. That's why the retail crime prevention scheme has been operating well to not only give additional safety features to those businesses but also advice to know how to use that equipment how to keep oneself safe and what to do in instances when you are a victim of a crime. The Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment fog cannon scheme: also working well which is good to see. We're seeing that when those fog cannons are deployed they stop the crime from proceeding. They are an effective tool that small-business owners are pleased to be receiving. I'd like to finish up by saying and acknowledging the good work that our community has been doing to reduce youth offending; an 82 percent reduction in successful programmes like Kotahi te Whakaaro. This is a tough job to try and resolve these issues. But by working together resourcing our community well and working together we will do that.