Rt Hon Winston Peters
New Zealand First Leader
Member of Parliament for Northland
20 AUGUST 2016
Tokoroa Brawl Offshoot of Police ‘Starvation’
The brawl that took hours to close down in Tokoroa overnight is an indictment of the government and its years of
starving the police force of resources and frontline power, says New Zealand First.
“This government has weakened the police and for six years has frozen the police budget,” says New Zealand First Leader
and Northland MP Rt Hon Winston Peters.
“Regional New Zealand has been starved and neglected of adequate policing, at a time when the economy, despite the hype,
is not performing and hundreds of New Zealanders are falling into alcohol and drug dependency.
“The National Government couldn’t care a less about the towns where ordinary Kiwis live and where poverty has taken
hold. Provincial New Zealand towns are by far suffering the most from the lack of law and order.
“New Zealand First would urgently boost frontline police, by at least 1800, just as we began doing in 2005-2008 when we
got an extra 1000 more frontline police and 235 back-up staff.”
ENDS