12. Question No. 12—PoliceCHRIS BAILLIE (ACT) to the Minister of PoliceQuestion No. 12—Police12. CHRIS BAILLIE (ACT) to the Minister of Police: Is she satisfied with the current number of constabulary staff in the New Zealand Police?Hon POTO WILLIAMS (Minister of Police): I am satisfied that this Government has invested over $450 million in our police and as a result of this investment the total police workforce now surpasses 14000 with 1223 additional constabulary and authorised officers on the streets since we came to office. I'm also satisfied that we are well on track to deliver the 1800 new police including 700 to be focused on organised crime by June 2023. In addition I'm also satisfied that my announcement of the new front-line safety programme earlier today will lead to an additional 78 constabulary staff and 28 intelligence analysts being deployed.Chris Baillie: Is she concerned at the report of the Police Association that the Government has only delivered 1133 constables of the promised 1800?Hon POTO WILLIAMS: I'm pleased that the member raises this issue. We are absolutely satisfied that we will meet our target by June 2023. We are well on the way. There may be some variances up and down. The Police have advised me today in discussions with them that they plan for such variances. It's a slight dip as according to the Police News but I'm very confident that we will meet our targets by June 2023.Chris Baillie: What would the Minister say to the front-line officer who wrote … the promised 1800 extra cops is starting to look like a pipe dream."? Hon POTO WILLIAMS: I would say to that officer to not be concerned. Today we announced an additional 78 constabulary plus 28 analysts to be part of the new front-line programme. But we are well on our way to meeting our 1800 growth target by 2023. We still have some time for that to occur and I'm really pleased to say that included in that is the 700 extra police that will go into working on organised crime.Chris Baillie: Is she concerned that while gang membership is up 50 percent since 2017 the Police Association is reporting the Government is now further away from delivering on their promised 1800 police?Hon POTO WILLIAMS: What I am confident of is the Police Association support of our announcement today supporting the investment into front-line safety. What I'm also confident of is us reaching our target for 1800 by 2023.Chris Baillie: What would she say to the person who responded to the news of 667 missing cops by remarking "Who we gonna call?" Hon POTO WILLIAMS: We have invested $450 million since we've come to Government and today announced a further $15 million: $465 million into Police and a lot of that has gone into ensuring that we can recruit the 1800 police by 2023 700 of which will go into organised crime. That member shakes his head but we have done far more in resourcing our cops to do their job to do their job safely and to keep New Zealanders safe.Hon Stuart Nash: Is it true in the last three years of the previous Government police numbers actually fell? SPEAKER: Order! The member knows that's not in order. He will stand withdraw and apologise. Hon Stuart Nash: I withdraw and apologise."