Increasing women in the Police force gratifies

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Wellington, June 29, 2018

New Zealand policing reached a historic milestone yesterday (Thursday, June 28) with a graduation of the largest number of women in a recruit wing.

Female constables outnumber their male colleagues by 54% to 46% in Wing 315.

Police Minister Stuart Nash congratulated the 78 new constables at the Royal New Zealand Police College at Porirua.

The following is a part of his speech.

Today’s graduation is historic for the number of female recruits. There are 42 female constables and 36 male constables and every one of them has done a fantastic job to get through the gruelling training. They can all be proud, and I am proud of them.

Significant Milestone

Graduation by itself is a milestone after 16 weeks of intensive training, but there is a greater milestone which also deserves to be recognised today.

The history of women’s progress in policing has been marked by a series of small steps since the first Labour government changed the law and the first policewomen were recruited in 1941. Today, we celebrate another step with women making up the greatest share of new officers entering service.

I am advised that the previous record of 51% was held by a small recruit wing in 1982, where there were 12 women and 11 men.

Police Target

Police have set themselves a goal of women making up half of new recruit wings and of more women entering senior ranks. We want more women choosing policing as a career because we want our police to have a diverse organisational culture and to reflect and connect with the communities they serve. We also have to do more to ensure that a career in police remains rewarding for women and men.

More resources

One of the most powerful ways in which we can convince officers to stay within policing is to support them with greater resources. Last month’s budget set aside $300 million in new operating funding as a first step towards our goal of 1800 new police officers and 485 new support staff over three years.

The graduation of Wing 315 takes the total number of new recruits since this government was formed to 533 frontline officers. There are few other jobs where we ask people to put themselves in harm’s way. My priority is to support police with the resources they need to keep our communities and themselves safe.

I also wish to acknowledge the former Prime Minister Dame Jenny Shipley as the Patron for Wing 315. She has worked closely in a mentoring role with the new constables and I am grateful for her support.

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