Simon Power MP
National Party Law & Order Spokesman

21 August 2006

King’s police recruitment drive starts with a whimper

The first month of the Government's drive to recruit 1,000 extra frontline police has resulted in a net loss of 34 sworn officers, says National's Law and Order spokesman, Simon Power.

"This is not a good start for Annette King,” says Mr Power.

“She must be questioning the decision to promise so many extra police over three years just to get NZ First to support her Government.”

The Police Human Resources Scorecard for July reveals that the actual number of sworn staff fell from 7,559 at the end of June to 7,525 at the end of July.

"Thirteen days into the recruitment campaign last month, the police admitted they were already below target and were moving onto a 'fallback plan'.

"After already lowering recruitment standards, how long is it before they go on to Plan C? Who knows what hare-brained schemes that will contain?

"The best way to attract new recruits is to have the police themselves talking about what a great career it is, but Labour has allowed the image of the police, and police morale, to sink. Both must be raised before they will have any hope of slowing the attrition rate, let alone recruit 1,000 extra police.

"Perhaps the Government should have stuck to its guns when Helen Clark said in August last year: ‘Some political parties are promising thousands of new police. Such promises are simply not credible’.”

ENDS

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