12. Police Resourcing—Burglaries and WorkloadSTUART NASH (Labour—Napier) to the Minister of PolicePolice Resourcing—Burglaries and WorkloadSTUART NASH (Labour—Napier): To the Minister of Police how many additional staff hours will it take for Police to attend every reported burglary?Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Police): The additional staff hours required will of course depend on the circumstances of each reported dwelling burglary which of course is what the member should have referred to.Mr SPEAKER: Order! As Mr Brownlee pointed out earlier we have clearly got a problem with the microphones. The question that was just asked has not been heard well. It is certainly through no fault of the Minister I assure you; it is the level of chatter that is occurring in some parts of the Chamber that is not helping. I am going to invite the member to ask the primary question again.12. STUART NASH (Labour—Napier) to the Minister of Police: How many additional staff hours will it take for Police to attend every reported burglary?Mr SPEAKER: Before I call the Minister—the Rt Hon Winston Peters I have asked for quiet and I would be grateful if you could also cooperate. Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Police): The additional staff hours required will of course depend on the circumstances of each reported dwelling burglary which of course is what the member should have referred to rather than every reported burglary.Stuart Nash: Is she really telling the House that she has instigated a major policy requiring the police to undertake significantly more work and yet she has no idea of the implications for the hard-working police officer on the front line?Hon JUDITH COLLINS: Well of course not. That member may have missed the excellent press release released by the Commissioner of Police on 27 June 2016 when he noted that it was his policy that dwelling burglaries would now be considered a priority offence and not a volume crime as was acceptable under the previous Labour Government. Stuart Nash: What does she have to say to the police officer who said to the New Zealand Herald we're expected to keep crime [rates] down burglaries down [when] there's way more people way more crime" considering that she has now required this officer to do more work without any more resources?Hon JUDITH COLLINS: Given that the police commissioner is the person who set in place the policy—and by the way I fully agree with that decision of his—I would say to that police officer that he or she should be very pleased that they have a Minister a Government and a commissioner that support them as opposed to that member who attacks the police quite personally at almost every opportunity he has.Stuart Nash: In response to that when 60 percent of police say they do not have enough training almost 60 percent say they cannot deliver on the promises they make to the public and almost 60 percent say they have too much stress in their job how can she load them with so much more work without an increase in police numbers?Hon JUDITH COLLINS: Well so many questions and the answer is actually quite easy really: the police are backed 100 percent by this Government. We have put on 600 extra police and there is also $400 million extra from the Budget than the police ever had under a previous Government.Stuart Nash: When she announced this policy was she actually aware that burglaries in our communities have increased by around 8600 or 14 percent over the last 12 months to over 70000 burglaries per year?Hon JUDITH COLLINS: I do not know how many times I have to tell that member but the policy decision was actually announced by the Commissioner of Police on Monday 27 June 2016 at 4.04 p.m. I am happy to provide that member with a link so he knows where the police website is. But having said that I can also tell him that on average in the 12 policing districts there are eight dwelling burglaries a day. Police already attend 70 percent of those on average and actually I think dwelling burglaries are very important. They are a home invasion and people should expect a response.Stuart Nash: So if the police attend 70 percent of burglaries at the moment they are going to have to attend another 30 percent—where are they going to find the resources to undertake this?Hon JUDITH COLLINS: The commissioner has assured me that they can and I am sure they will."