Hawkins George: Urgent Debates — Police 111 System—Review 
Hawkins George: Urgent Debates — Police 111 System—Review 
[Volume:625;Page:20459] 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS (Minister of Police) 
: 
 Oh how short memories are! Of course leadership is something the National Party knew nothing of when it was in power. Tony Ryall sat around the Cabinet table and voted to have 540 fewer police. He voted for the police budget to be cut. He forgets that amnesia is something he has plenty of; he remembers very very little. 
This Government has delivered. We have already provided more than 1000 extra police. We have provided over $200 million and today I am able to announce another $45.5 million over 4 years. That has happened as a late Budget bid and this Government has seen to it that that money will be provided. 
The commissioner has never ever had greater resources at his disposal. He has more than 1000 staff and of course this issue is something that could have been dealt with very quickly. The commissioner has the right to shift his staff and he could have put more staff in communications centres. 
The report talks about getting things right. The New Zealand Police is a great organisation—an organisation that gets most things right. The crime rate has dropped 8.2 percent over the last 12 months. The resolution rate is up. But I have to say that the issues raised by the independent review authority such as management training and leadership are issues for the Commissioner of Police. 
However it is critically important that the public has confidence in the 111 system. This Government has committed to ensure that the commissioner has additional resources to allow him to respond immediately to the issues raised by the review in order to restore public confidence. Back in February I answered a question in the House from Tony Ryall by saying that if the commissioner needed more resources we would make sure he got them. I said that on 15 February and of course it has happened. We made sure that the police got that money. 
Additional funding of $45.5 million is being committed over 4 years. That sum requested by the commissioner equates to the salaries of approximately 100 staff across the range of communications centre roles. The mix between managers supervisors support staff and call-takers is a matter for the commissioner and we are giving him the resource he has asked for. This Government’s clear expectation is that the commissioner will fix the problems identified. We have committed the additional resources he has requested so that he can do that urgently. 
The commissioner took the appropriate action in commissioning a review. Following the case of Miss Asher the commissioner called for a review. He said that he wanted to get things right and I supported him on that. When he came to my office after having the draft report and said that he needed more money I immediately went to the Minister of Finance and to Cabinet and secured the money. This Government has done what it should do and that is absolutely true. This Government as I have said wants to make sure that everything is improved. 
Let us look at the 111 system. It gets most things right. As with all bodies where a human element is involved there are mistakes. We want to try to eliminate as many of those as we can. Of course human error is difficult to deal with but better training will help. We will make sure that people have skills in what is a difficult job. 
I also want to talk about the problems associated with the new technology. The review found that the new technology is world-class but one immediate area of concern is the need to be able to separate communications through more radio channels. The funding we are giving will allow for four additional radio channels. That is what is recommended; that is what we are paying for; this Government is fronting up. 
The report mentions the value of Automatic Vehicle Location so that the police know where their vehicles are and it will be very important to have a rural component of that system. We want to make sure that rural areas are identified accurately and rapidly and of course we say very clearly that the police in New Zealand must make sure that the service is improved. 
John Carter 
: Has it taken you 5 years to come to that conclusion George? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: Well it took me very little time to know that the Government of which that member was a part wanted to cut police spending. Don Brash will not get up even now and say how he will fund the police. He does not know how many more police he wants. It is a matter of the National Party jumping on the police all the time. The Nats made the cuts and the National leader makes a fool of himself when he goes to Palmerston North— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Clem Simich was a good Minister though. 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: Yes Clem Simich was a good Minister but I have to say that he did not get support from his mates. 
If we look at the overall situation we can see that the commissioner has already announced the establishment of a National Communications Centre Advisory Board to oversee the performance and strategic direction of the police communications centre making it even more transparent and giving the public an overseeing role as well. I heartily agree with the commissioner’s statement that the work of the communications centre must be more closely integrated with the whole organisation and that external stakeholders need to have a greater role in determining service delivery expectations and standards. All stakeholders have a role in educating the public on those matters. 
We are going to look at the number of 111 calls that are not actual emergencies and which could more appropriately be made to a different number. When a person rings 111 to find out how to fix a television aerial we know there is a need for far better education. Each year the police communications centre receives about 1.6 million calls. Some 466000 are 111 calls and more than 50 of those are assessed as priority one calls which require—and in the vast majority of cases receive—an immediate police response. 
Overall the performance of the New Zealand police over the last few years has been exceptional—absolutely exceptional. There are fewer crimes and more resolutions to crime than at any time in the last 20 years. Overall the performance of the New Zealand police has continued to improve. 
John Carter 
: Oh rubbish! 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: That is absolutely right but the National Party tries to put down the police at every turn. 
John Carter 
: Oh! No! 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: There is John Carter wailing and moaning. He does not support the police in the way the Government does. 
There is still room for improvement and the Government is making resources available in order to achieve that—and next Thursday there will be more. The Government has always supported the New Zealand Police which is a far far different situation from that of National. 
National had the Martin review. What was the Martin review designed to do? It was designed to take police out of police stations and put them in the dole queue. National did not want 540 police; it was going to be absolutely shot of them. National was going to save money. Well New Zealanders will not forget that. 
Let us look at the turn-round in things such as burglary. There used to be 96000 burglaries in New Zealand each year; now that figure is below 60000. Police do a great job and we support them. 
I think that what members opposite forget is that we are making sure that demand and delivery services are improved. We are making sure that leadership is improved. We are making sure that training and supervision are improved. We are also making sure that there are extra radio channels. 
This Government’s record is a good one. There was a very quick response from this Government when the commissioner said he needed money and resources. What did we do? We got them for him and we are producing better results because we listen to the police. We listen to their needs and we listen to the public’s needs. We answer to the public by making their communities safer.