Jacinda Arden –
My father was a policeman for 40 years.
For a while, we even lived in a home at the front of the local police station of which he was in charge.
I have no doubt that those years are part of the reason I have always believed that the best policing is community based – that means having them in our neighbourhoods, available and approachable.
However, the number of Police has fallen in the past two years while the New Zealand population rose by 200,000 people.
That has had an impact.
Serious incidents
I have heard a few people tell stories of serious incidents where the Police either have not been able to attend, or have arrived long after the fact.
And none of it is their fault.
In the past few years, the strain on police resources has become really noticeable. They have had to absorb more than $300 million in cost pressures, back-office staffing has been reduced, frontline numbers are down even when compared to two years ago, and a number of local stations have closed.
Mt Albert has not been immune to these cuts – we have lost multiple local policing kiosks. The expectation seems to be that if people need to see a Police Officer face-to- face, they should go to Ponsonby or the City.
Unsolved cases
None of these changes has come without a cost, and it is offences like burglary and sexual assault that tell that story.
There are 50 extra burglaries every day when compared to two years ago, and only one in twenty are solved with an offender facing court.
It was not too long ago that the Police Commissioner identified that burglary was often an entry level crime that led to repeat and more serious offending.
It was an offence we needed to be targeting, but that the Police have not had the capacity to do so.
None of this has happened silently.
Police do not have the right to strike, but they have still sent a strong message that they are worried that they do not have the resources to respond to crime.
In fact, 74% of officers in the latest Police Association Survey of members (released January 2016) were dissatisfied with the number of frontline staff in their district, while 86% of the respondents thought that frontline general duties officers were under-resourced in responding to emergencies.
Labour’s stand
We can do something about this if we put the support in the right place.
Last year, we announced that, in our view, we needed 1000 more officers on the frontline, along with 300 extra back office staff if we were to meet the expectations of not only the public but also that of the Police.
In Mt Albert, I want to see that start by bringing back the kiosk that used to exist at the Mt Albert shops.
Our Police Force does an incredibly demanding job every day of the week – they need to be properly resourced and supported not just to keep our communities safe, but so they can be there when they know they are needed.
Jacinda Arden is Member of Parliament on Labour Party’s List from Auckland Central Constituency. She is the Party’s Spokesperson for Justice; Arts, Culture and Heritage; Children; and Small Business. She is also Associate Spokesperson for Auckland Issues.
She is the Labour Party candidate to contest in the Mt Albert by-election scheduled to be held on February 25, 2017 to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of David Shearer, who is taking up UN diplomatic assignment as the Head of the Peacekeeping Force in South Sudan.
