Ryall Tony: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Ryall Tony: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:620;Page:15458] 
8.  
Hon TONY RYALL (National—Bay of Plenty) 
 to the  
Minister of Police 
: What assurances can he give that the personal safety of police officers will not be jeopardised as inmate overcrowding worsens and when does he expect this situation to end in light of the warning from a senior police officer that: “The more we have to put in there the more it turns into a powder keg.”? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS (Minister of Police) 
: 
 The personal safety of police officers is always a high priority. The police are trained to protect themselves and the public. I am advised that around 120000 people are held in police custody annually. The police are working on a daily basis with Department of Corrections staff to manage prisoner levels. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: Can the Minister confirm that yesterday in the overcrowded cells of the Manukau District Court remand prisoners near-rioted smashing their cells and that it took the intervention of police officers to restore order; and could that risk to the safety of our police officers be another reason why the Prime Minister will not reassure him of his ministerial warrant? 
Mr SPEAKER 
: No the first question can be answered. 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: I am not aware of the information the member has but I will immediately get an answer for him. 
Martin Gallagher 
: Could the Minister explain to the House again some of the reasons that inmate numbers have risen in this country? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: The police are doing a magnificent job of catching criminals. Police resolution rates are the highest they have been in 20 years. As well the Government has toughened up the sentencing parole and bail laws which means more criminals are being locked up. 
Marc Alexander 
: Has the Minister received any assurances from the Minister of Justice that the safety of police officers will not be jeopardised further by the passage of the Parole (Extended Supervision) Amendment Bill the Films Videos and Publications Classification Amendment Bill and the Crimes Amendment Bill (No 2) given that all those measures increase custodial sentences and raise the possibility of an even bigger increase in the number of remand and sentenced prisoners being detained in police cells? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: I have talked with the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Corrections over the present problem. I have not discussed whether any of those bills will add to the problem because we think the problem is short term. 
Dr Muriel Newman 
: Why is it that as at 31 July 2004 the Government’s DNA testing agency had not analysed police samples for 21 alleged homicide cases including two that had been waiting for analysis for over 9 months; and is that delay in investigating those 21 murder-case samples linked in any way at all to the fact that the police know that even if they were to get convictions there may not be any police cells available for the offenders? 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Right at the end of that question the member became relevant. The first part of the question was very very wide; it was really another question. 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: I am pleased to tell the House that this Government has put in a lot more money so we can do DNA tests and palm-print tests—which means that we have found another four rapists whom we would not have found before. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: In light of the Minister’s answer to a previous supplementary question has he seen the Ministry of Justice report that indicates that one of the major causes of the current muster crisis is the length of time it is taking to get criminal cases through the clogged courts system; and does he think he is being blamed for the mismanagement of the Minister for Courts? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: That report is being looked after by the Hon Rick Barker who is right on top of it as Government Ministers work together to make sure that this crisis is fixed. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I call Stephen Franks. [ 
Interruption 
] Mr Franks had not started his question so I will ignore the interjection but it does lead to riposte. 
Stephen Franks 
: Has the Minister inquired to find out exactly when each of the three new prisons in Northland Auckland and south Auckland will open—which in 1999 were planned to open last year—so that every police officer now tending prisoners can get back to policing; and if he has not asked his seat mate that why not? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: Yes. Even when this crisis is over there are police officers who will work at guarding prisoners. It is part of police work. However I must say that I was surprised to read in the  
Waikato Times 
 of 18 July that the National Party was telling people to protest against the building of prisons using wahi tapu as a powerful reason for that. Amongst the MPs who were at that meeting were Dr Paul Hutchison Shane Ardern and Richard Worth. They do not want prisons in their areas. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: What responsibility will the Minister take if a police officer is seriously assaulted by a remand prisoner considering the Manukau District Court cell-trashing the recent attack on a west Auckland policewoman by a remand inmate and the potentially tragic placement of an at-risk remand prisoner with dangerous criminals in a police cell; or does the Minister think that in a few weeks this crisis will be someone else’s problem? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: The Government is always concerned when criminals attack police. Whether it occurs in a cell or out on the street we are concerned about that. We put money in for training and the commissioner makes sure that safety is a major consideration in all police work. I seek leave to table the news report in the  
Waikato Times 
 dated 18 July 2001. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that. Is there any objection? There is. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: I seek leave to table an article in the  
Manukau Courier 
 in which George Hawkins as the local member objected to prisons in his community. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There is.