11. Question No. 11—PoliceHon GINNY ANDERSEN (Labour) to the Minister of PoliceQuestion No. 11—Police11. Hon GINNY ANDERSEN (Labour) to the Minister of Police: Does he agree with Mike Hosking on Newstalk ZB when he marked crime 2/10 saying For all the noise promises and headlines I'm pretty sure the stats show it's going the wrong way"; if not why not?Hon MARK MITCHELL (Minister of Police): No but I can understand why Mike has said that. The incoming Government inherited the worst violent crime this country has seen and it is a big job that will take time to turn around. The good news is that after eight months we are starting to see early signs of positive change. I'll have more to say on this next week but I'm happy to share with that member that when comparing the first six months of last year with the first six months of this year we have seen aggravated robberies reduce by 10 percent we have seen knife crime drop by 10 percent there have been 5 percent less serious assaults Auckland Council reported earlier in the week a 35 percent drop in crime and Heart of the City also reported that retail thefts and robberies in Auckland had fallen 50 percent. Additionally advice from police shows that we have slowed the increase in retail crime by half. This is a result of this Government's focus on back-to-basics policing with increased visibility and presence. We are very realistic that these problems will not be fixed overnight and I'm not saying that the problem is solved but I'm encouraged by these early signs of progress and improvement.Hon Ginny Andersen: How are New Zealanders in Waikato safer when there has been a 350 percent increase in non-aggravated robberies and a 53 percent increase in aggravated sexual assaults since he took office?Hon MARK MITCHELL: Well the people of Waikato will start to feel safer I hope when they see that the police are being extremely proactive in terms of dealing with crime on the street in terms of visibility. I'd reiterate again to the member that in the first six months of this Government there's been a reduction by 10 percent of aggravated robberies there's been a reduction by 10 percent of knife crime and there's been a reduction of 5 percent of serious assaults.Hon Ginny Andersen: How are New Zealanders in Canterbury safer when there has been a 164 percent increase in aggravated robberies since he took office?Hon MARK MITCHELL: Well the people in Canterbury will be feeling safer because again they've seen a big increase in visibility and presence of their police officers in the street. They're feeling safer in their CBD. The police have been extremely proactive and they've run big operations to deal with boy racers. They've been very proactive in the way that they're dealing with gangs. Like I said I'll have more to say on this next week; there's some good news on the way. I will bring the member back to the fact that there's been a 10 percent reduction in aggravated robberies in the first six months of this Government.Hon Ginny Andersen: Why have police foot patrols in Canterbury decreased by 39 percent since he took office?Hon MARK MITCHELL: There's just been additional resource put into Canterbury to increase the number of police on the street and the feedback that I get from members of the public every day is that they're seeing their police officers back on the street highly visible providing reassurance and they're loving it.Hon Ginny Andersen: How are New Zealanders safer when there has been a 25 percent increase in thefts from retail premises between November 2023 and May 2024 compared to the previous year?Hon MARK MITCHELL: Well like I said to the member we know that we've got a lot of work to do. We inherited the worst violence this country has ever seen via the previous Government. But I would bring her attention again back to the fact that police advise that retail crime has slowed down by half in the first eight months since this Government came in.Hon Ginny Andersen: Can he guarantee to New Zealanders that the 248 job cuts to New Zealand police will not affect the front line and therefore further contribute to these stats going the wrong way?Hon MARK MITCHELL: Well this Government takes services to the community that we serve really seriously and any savings that we've taken out of Police National Headquarters are being reinvested back on the front line so that people see police officers highly visible out on the beat which they're seeing now and they're loving to make sure that we make our country safer."