Borrows Chester: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
Borrows Chester: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:630;Page:2436] 
CHESTER BORROWS (National—Whanganui) 
: 
 I rise to speak in respect of the appropriation for the New Zealand Police. It is with some degree of frustration that I note the level of confidence has continued to fall in respect of the police especially after the assertions made by the Minister of Police that she would work tirelessly to pull confidence in the organisation back up. It is an organisation in which I worked for many years and I still hold a great deal of regard for it. 
I certainly wish my two wing mates from previous years Howard Broad and Rob Pope the warmest congratulations on their new positions as commissioner and deputy commissioner respectively. I was pleased to be able to write to tell them that at least the decision in respect of their appointments was one that I agreed with the Minister on more than 100 percent. I believe that with the background those two men have particularly as former detectives they will focus intently on raising the public level of confidence in the police and on the police’s ability to respond and react to prevent crime investigate crime in a timely manner and protect life and property. 
It is a worry that although reported crime may be down overall the most prominent reason for the lessening in reported crime is the level of confidence that New Zealanders have in the ability of the police to investigate reported crime with any hope of success. It is a shame that within the last couple of years we have seen such a large number of high-profile incidents where the police have been hampered for one reason or another from investigating them in a timely manner. There were problems around the communications centre which we hope have now been fixed or are on the road to being fixed. The truth is of course that the police were asking for further resources for the communications centre for some time before they ever saw any progress in relation to that. 
People have a perception about crime. When I campaigned at the last election it was a shame to knock on doors on a sunny Saturday afternoon and hear pensioners unlock three or four locks before they could open the door to speak to me. They were trapped inside their homes by fear. I honestly believe they do not need to be in fear. I think as many New Zealanders do that the media have some part to play in response to that situation. 
I look forward to seeing the Government come through with its 1250 new police. I do note with some degree of humour that during the campaign when we were talking about increasing police numbers we were told quite emphatically by the then Minister of Police and by local members of Parliament there was no need to increase numbers and the police were completely resourced along the lines they needed to be. But after the pre-election pledges made by the National Party and by New Zealand First the Government came up with a figure of 250 more community police. Community police definitely have their role especially in building confidence in the police but it was not really until after the election and the confidence and supply agreement was made that 1000 new police were added to the figure of 250. 
Even then there seemed to be some conflict over the pages of the songbook various members of the Government were singing from because the member Ron Mark told us there were to be 1000 new front-line police and the Minister of Police told staff at the Nelson Police Station the figure would be 1000 new police including non-sworn as well as sworn officers. She repeated that statement in the House a few days later but about a week after that it was conceded there would be 1000 front-line police plus support staff. As a former police officer I am pleased to see that occur because I believe that the number of front-line staff has been reduced by attrition over time and the police’s ability to respond to incidents has been marginalised even in my own area. 
When I was a police officer working in the Wanganui electorate the Wanganui Police Station had a sergeant and five officers working 24 hours a day on successive shifts. What happened of course was that the number was reduced by attrition. Now we have ended up with the situation where there is a sergeant and two officers working on some days and I wonder how on earth they can respond—especially at a time when ambulance officers and firefighters who are the emergency service back-ups for the police in various situations are not available either because their numbers have been reduced by attrition as well. In Wanganui City we have lost six police officers and we look forward to seeing them replaced in due course if it happens.