Media Release
17 June 2004

Cops' Lives On The Line

New Zealand First Law and Order spokesman Ron Mark today questioned the Minister of Police in the House about the total inadequacy of police resourcing.

“The alarm bells should be ringing in the Minister’s ears when communities start voicing their concerns about their police officers being forced to work alone.

“The all-important balance between staff numbers and workloads has been allowed to get dangerously out of kilter. There simply aren’t enough police.

“Not only that, call center and other support staff are reduced to a skeleton level in many areas.

“You don’t need a degree in psychology to figure out that staff morale is at an all-time low in some districts.

“Police simply have too many bases to cover with the resources they’ve been given by this Government.

“Not only are they having to put themselves at risk on a daily basis, but the public are also potentially in danger because the resources are simply not there to protect them.

“What’s urgently needed is a massive funding increase so that the police can get on with the job of catching criminals.

“New Zealand First has long advocated the doubling of police numbers. It’s about time the Minister listened to common sense and did the right thing. We don’t mind if he steals our policy,” said Mr Mark.

ENDS

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