Financial Review Debate — New Zealand Police

The Police too have had an outstanding year. This country is well served by its over 12,000 Police employees, and, again, I want to take this opportunity to thank them for all their hard work throughout the year and to congratulate them on the results they are getting in keeping this country safe and protecting our communities. We have seen over the last 3 years a continual reduction in recorded crime, totalling a 17.4 percent reduction in recorded crime. That is a 33-year low. That is the proof of the work the police are doing. I know that there are people in this Chamber who hark back to the good old days; actually, policing is now a very technologically based service. It uses good information. Our police are the best equipped they have ever been and they are looking after our communities and keeping them safe in all sorts of different ways that perhaps were not even dreamt of 5 or 6 years ago. I want to touch on just a couple.

There are 34 neighbourhood policing teams across the country. They are working in our most vulnerable communities. These are places where we see huge amounts of crime committed again and again and again against the same victims. They are focused on those communities that are continually revictimised by a small number of criminals. They are working with each of those communities to find ways to address the drivers of crime. In some parts it is about drugs and alcohol—there is no doubt about that. In some of the other parts I have visited, teams have talked about a very common problem being the lack of access to supermarkets. People had to do all their shopping at a grocery store, where everything is much more expensive and their money was not going far enough, so transport—community vans, mobile vans, etc.—was made available to take people to the shops. There is a whole raft of things: getting rid of graffiti, working with people to keep their houses safe, etc.

As for boy racer offences, I announced not long ago that we have seen them halved—halved—in the time since we introduced that piece of legislation. That is not about catching young people and crushing their cars. That is about keeping communities safe, both from the nuisance value those boy racers create in the communities they tear around and also from the harm to some of the innocent bystanders and the innocent passengers, who have been killed or maimed by the excessive speeds seen from these boy racers. We have seen deaths of 15 to 24-year-olds drop down from 105 when we introduced the legislation to 66.

I also announced an increase in foot patrols. This is about having the police much more visible out in our communities where they can prevent crime happening. There has been an increase over the last couple of years in the number of foot patrols by 155. In 2011 they had just on 41,000 foot patrols; in 2013 they had 104,000. When I go around New Zealand and talk to people about safety in their communities, the first thing people say to me is that the police are much more visible. They see them out on the streets, walking around, talking to people, and keeping an eye on the hot spots.

The other thing I would say is about a programme called Turning the Tide. Very quickly, this is working with iwi to address the drivers of crime in the Māori community. We are seeing some enormous successes. If I talk just about my own electorate of East Coast and about Gisborne, the police have placed a policewoman inside the rūnanga of Ngati Porou. She is doing an outstanding job working with her iwi, trying to prevent crime, trying to keep people safe. She has got a fantastic garden programme running with some of the gang members at Kaiti. She has got them into education, getting some skills and training, and the kids are at school—all sorts of incredible things. These people are working quietly on the ground, often unseen, out in our communities. We are lucky to have such a fantastic police service, which is working to keep New Zealanders safe.

Report noted.

Vote Housing, Non-departmental appropriations