Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi 
Aggravated robbery in our local community is concerning, and a number of business owners have told us that they are scared and worried about their safety.
This National-led Government has always and continues to appreciate the efforts of the New Zealand Police.
The New Zealand Police is working hard to address the issue of aggravated robbery – identifying where these crimes are likely to happen and increasing visibility in these areas. Police officials have already arrested 107 people in connection with the 140 aggravated robberies that have taken place over the past two months.
However, the Government as well as the New Zealand Police are well aware that more needs to be done to combat rising crime.
The National led-Government is investing $503 million as part of our Safer Communities package to provide new staff and associated policing services across the country.
Additional Constables
The Police has therefore announced how new constabulary staff will be allocated throughout the country over the next 12 months.
Specifically, for the Auckland region, a total of 56 new officers will be allocated across Counties Manukau, Waitemata and Auckland City Police Districts over the next 12 months.
The staff will be deployed across the wider Auckland region to target specific issues including youth crime and community work, and to staff the 24/7 Eagle helicopter.
The additional staff will help build police capacity and support local policing teams to deal with future growth in Auckland.
The allocation decisions have been made by District Commanders, based on crime patterns and police demand across the region.
This is just the allocation for the first of four years.
Preventing crime
The National-led Government is focused on delivering a more responsive police service, prevent harm and victimisation, resolve more crimes, and more effectively target crime in our community.
Twelve new mobile police stations will also be set up around New Zealand, and we will be setting new challenging targets for police including 98% of home burglaries attended within 48 hours and one minute faster emergency response times.
The first recruits will start Police College next month and be on the beat in October.
Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi is Member of Parliament on National List, Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Law & Order and Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Police Minister.
