Ryall Tony: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Ryall Tony: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:613;Page:10026] 
10.  
Hon TONY RYALL (National—Bay of Plenty) 
 to the  
Minister of Police 
: How does he explain his statement that “Police do not have a quota of tickets they’re supposed to give out every hour. There is no such quota.” with his answer to a written question stating “A minimum expectation is one enforcement action (not being a warning) for every hour of patrol.” and with media reports of orders to issue three tickets an hour and orders to ticket at least one motorist every hour? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS (Minister of Police) 
: 
 The police are expected to enforce the law. That is their job. An expectation of one enforcement action for every hour of patrol is a work performance management measure. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: Why is the Government maintaining this current traffic policy when even though the New Zealand Police has issued a record number of speeding tickets this year—nearly 1 million—the number of crashes is up the number of injuries is up and the number of road-toll fatalities is up? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: We are following the same rules that have been there since before the merger of Ministry of Transport traffic officers and the police in 1992. Overall the road toll may be up so that member should be supporting the police giving out as many tickets as they do when people speed. 
Martin Gallagher 
: Can the Minister spell out to this House how long there has been a requirement that officers involved in traffic duty in this country actually do their job? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: In one guise or another there have been performance management measures for the police even before the merger of the Ministry of Transport traffic officers with the police in 1992. In 1997 a performance agreement between the then Minister of Police and Commissioner of Police required the commissioner to provide district performance statements on contacts per hour for doing what had always been done. It is a pity the member cannot remember that. 
Ron Mark 
: Does the Minister therefore concur with the comments of his colleague the Minister of Transport on 3 June this year who said: “The most convincing argument supporting the police enforcement of speed limits is the declining rate of death and injury from road crashes.” and “Let me state quite clearly there is no quota of tickets that police must meet” when police are required now to issue 30 percent more infringement notices than last year and when police officers are telling members of Parliament—these are general duty officers—they are being ordered to issue one ticket per hour regardless of the importance of other duties they may be trying to perform— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: That is sufficient for that question. The member has already had too long for it. 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: The commissioner requires that his staff do not just sit on the road in patrol cars but that they enforce standards in speed reduction and restraint wearing as well as in terms of trauma-promoting offences. That is why they are employed. 
Dr Muriel Newman 
: Does he accept the findings of British research which concludes that speed cameras are a failure—they do not deter drivers from speeding they are remarkably unsuccessful at saving lives and they may well cause accidents of their own; if not why not? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: I think that there are all sorts of theories about ways in which speed cameras are effective or ineffective. The best thing is for people not to speed and get caught by them. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: Why does the Minister support lowering the speed camera tolerance when it is not those speeds that kill—even his own Government’s figures show that three-quarters of fatal accidents and 85 percent of crashes happen below the posted speed limit? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: That is not the Government’s policy and it probably will not be the Government’s policy. I think this is really a performance issue and that is why that member has gone from place eight on the National benches down to 15. 
Ron Mark 
: Can the Minister give the House and the people of New Zealand an absolute categorical assurance that hidden speed cameras will not be used in New Zealand and specifically that the police are not now working on an Australian model whereby speed cameras may be hidden inside rubbish wheelie bins for example? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: If the member wants an answer to that he should ask the Minister of Transport. It is my opinion that hidden speed cameras are not as effective as having the highly visible highway patrol that this Government introduced with tremendous success. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: Has the Minister seen the information that shows that 30 percent of his high-profile highway patrol’s time is spent behind a desk doing administration work and has he seen the latest survey printed in the New Zealand Police Association magazine that shows that 71 percent of New Zealand police officers operate a traffic ticket quota system which he has denied in the House? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: I can say that we most certainly get various reports from the Police Association but the reality is that the police have a work performance which means they should be issuing tickets for “speed reduction or restraint wearing or trauma-promoting offences.” This Government is not responsible for the journalist not understanding that or the Opposition member not understanding it. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: I seek leave to table two documents. The first is the result of a UMR Insight research survey which shows 71 percent of police officers believe they operate a traffic ticket quota system and 82 percent say it is having a negative impact on policing. 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: The second document is an official document from the Government that shows that 75 percent of fatalities do not involve a vehicle travelling over the speed limit. 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House. 
Hon George Hawkins 
: I seek leave to table the Land Transport Safety Authority survey for 2003 which shows that 92 percent of people responding to whether the police were putting enough effort into catching road criminals and safety matters were in favour of more effort or the same level as there is now. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There is.