Peters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Peters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Volume:608;Page:5099] 
7.  
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) 
 to the  
Minister of Police 
: Do the reported press comments by Police Association president Greg O’Connor regarding “the State failing to deliver justice to its people” because of the police’s inability to carry out car crash inquiries have substance? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS (Minister of Police) 
: 
 No. Police policy around responses to traffic crashes has remained unchanged since it was formulated in the early 1990s. The commissioner expects police to respond to all fatal and injury accidents. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Is the Minister saying that the  
New Zealand Herald  
article of 28 April that reads: “Police in parts of Auckland have given up investigating minor car crashes and are telling victims to deal with the offenders themselves.” or further reports that victims of a random shooting out of a car parked on a victim’s property had to wait 8 hours before the police attended or for example the sending of a form letter from police to victims of vehicle accidents advising those involved that they are on their own are examples of proactive policing or what? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: I do not think that any of those examples are acceptable. However I tell the member that the police have been using the same standard letter for a long while. It was last modified on 14 September 1999— 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I am asking the Minister whether those reports have substance and whether they are true. He is attempting to give us a diatribe of what happened in the dim dark past at a time for which he was not responsible as Minister. That is my point of order. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The point of order is not well based. The Minister did address the question. I heard him do so myself. 
Martin Gallagher 
: Has the Commissioner of Police stated that the ability to respond to reported offences is due to lack of resources; if not what information has the Minister received about the current level of resources available to individual police districts? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: The commissioner and I held a media conference on this matter yesterday. The commissioner stated that it is not a matter of resources. The Government funds the police and the commissioner sets district budgets. For example the budget for the Auckland police district has increased significantly between the 1999-2000 year and 2002-03. Over that time the personnel budget has increased by 9 percent the operational budget by 38 percent and the total budget by 14 percent. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: Can the Minister categorically state that there are no other crimes that the police are telling people to investigate themselves and is this not just the Government’s solution to try to lower the crime rates by having less crime reported? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: I cannot give a categorical denial of that. From time to time police resources are stretched. However I would say that the police are doing far better. This Government has set standards for them that burglaries should be attended within 24 hours. The police are doing well achieving that compared with what happened under the National Party which was abysmal. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: How can the Minister make that statement in respect of police resourcing when there is only a 40 percent clearance of reported crime first of all and when every member of this Parliament dealing with any region or district has been told by the local police that police are under-resourced and under extraordinary stress? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: The amount of resolved crime has been higher under this Government than under any other Government and I have to say the police officers who want more resources want to catch more crooks always and they use every opportunity they can to lobby. The commissioner lobbies me and we deliver. 
Marc Alexander 
: Does the Minister agree that the raising of the bar for crimes that warrant police attention will soon extend to other offences where victims may tend to over-exaggerate the crime in order to compete for the attention of a police force that is seemingly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of crime; if not why not? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: I think some victims do exaggerate the nature of the crime and that is because crime impacts on people at different levels. I seek leave to table a letter last modified on 14 July 1999 from the Balmoral Police Station. 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: I seek leave to table two documents. The first shows that fewer than one in 10 burglaries in Auckland are being resolved under this Government and the second is a report from the Insurance Council of New Zealand describing the police as under-resourced underfunded and under stress. 
Documents not tabled.