Collins Judith: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Collins Judith: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:665;Page:12734] 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Police) 
: 
 As the Opposition is being quiet on these issues I think I will have to have a go. It is marvellous to be the Minister of Police and be the Minister who is responsible for one of the most trusted organisations in New Zealand. When I say to people that the New Zealand Police is the finest police force in the world occasionally they say that of course I would say that. I then ask them which particular police force they would rather have than ours; I ask them to name one. Frankly nobody has yet been able to come up with any credible alternative. That is because the New Zealand Police is actually the finest in the world. Our police are the only ones that operate in a community policing role and for that very reason they are very highly regarded in situations such as those in Timor-Leste Afghanistan and the Solomon Islands bringing a form of policing never seen in those countries and frankly not seen elsewhere. 
The New Zealand Police is an organisation with around 12000 people both sworn and non-sworn who exemplify the very best attributes that we expect of New Zealanders. It was great to hear Jonathan Young who has just resumed his seat talk about the calibre of our new recruits. I say they are some of the nicest people that we could get into the New Zealand Police and I am really proud of them. I attend most of the police graduations and I find that the calibre of graduates is amazing. They are people from all walks of life many with professions and trades training who have come into the police after they have done other careers or part-way through them because they want to make a positive difference to New Zealand. I am very pleased that we can get them in here. 
In the last year the New Zealand Police resolved 212000 offences increasing its resolution rate to the highest ever at 47.9 percent. Yet no organisation can rest on its achievements and in the New Zealand Police we are seeing what is being trialled in Counties-Manukau. I heard the Opposition members screaming out about statistics. Well if they go on the police website they will find that every month the police put up their statistics for crime resolutions and police activity all around the districts. That was live as of the other week and people should look at it and see just what the police are doing. They are doing marvellous work. One of the things they are doing is proactive policing and that is incredibly important: having police being seen being visible helping to keep the community safe and also telling people to come on out go shopping and be seen around the shopping centres because the police are there and will protect them. In Counties-Manukau where this is being trialled we are seeing an 80 percent drop in handbag snatches which is pretty amazing in an area where that was rife—an 80 percent drop. 
In the calendar year to date there have been three homicides in Counties-Manukau. That is down from about 17 in the year before. It is unbelievable. This is all since we have had the new recruits in and the new style of policing has been trialled there. We have seen some remarkable results not just in Counties-Manukau but in other parts of the country where various new ways of doing things have been trialled. It is great to have a police service that is absolutely committed to doing the right things. When I go all around the country visiting our police I come across people who have spent their whole working lives dedicated to New Zealanders. 
I can say that the worst thing about being the Minister of Police occurs when something bad happens to one of the police officers. 
Sue Moroney 
: There’s never a car when they need one. 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: It is absolutely awful. When anything happens to the police it really upsets me. The member over there Sue Moroney who clearly does not respect the police says there is never a car. Actually I say to Miss Moroney that the police travelled more kilometres last year than they did in the year before that and that was achieved with a far better use of their cars than previously. One of the reasons is that the police just like the rest of us very much value the fact that taxpayers pay for everything that they do. They really appreciate that. 
All around the country I know that people are very proud of the fact that we got in nine new pieces of legislation last year to help the police to do their job. Most of them came into effect from 1 December last year. We are seeing a massive increase in methamphetamine seizures and a massive increase in the attacks on organised crime and we can start to see some dents being made in that area. I have no idea at all as to why the previous Government spent 9 years in power without touching the issue of methamphetamine in terms of trying to deal with the causes of it. All that Labour ever did was to talk about anything else. It failed to make any effort to address methamphetamine; it never gave the police the backing that they needed. It always bagged them and it still does. 
Vote agreed to.