NEW ZEALAND
POLICE ASSOCIATION

Media Release

For Immediate Release
25 August 2005

Public Think Crime And Violence One Of The Top Four Most Important Problems Facing The Country Today

“The Police have done well with the stretched resources they have and where they have focussed those resources, the crime statistics look pleasing,” said Greg O’Connor, NZ Police Association President. “However, we know that New Zealanders think crime and violence is one of the top four most important problems facing the country today and that’s what really counts.”

Mr O’Connor was commenting on the Police Crime Statistics for the period ending June 2005 and a July 2005 UMR Survey of the public conducted for the Police Association.

“We know an overwhelming 78% of New Zealanders UMR surveyed believe that there are not enough frontline police in New Zealand today,” said Mr O’Connor.

“When we looked at reasons why, 86% are convinced that more police are needed so that police can quickly attend to emergency situations, with 78% convinced that more police are needed to deal with the increasing problem of organised crime and gangs in NZ,” Mr O’Connor said.

“We also know that 73% of the public were convinced that more police would make them feel safer in their local neighbourhood after dark and would help fight the increasing ‘P’/methamphetamine drug problem, respectively,” said Mr O’Connor. “71% of the public are also convinced that more police are needed so that large numbers of police files are not left unassigned as happened recently in Counties/Manukau.”

“While there are shortages in the frontline, Police’s ability to respond to emergencies and resolve crimes committed will continue to be a major concern to the public.”

ENDS

UMR survey results follow.

UMR Survey Results

July 2005

Methodology

Results in this report are based upon questions asked in the UMR Research nation-wide omnibus survey. This is a telephone survey of a nationally representative sample of 750 New Zealanders 18 years of age and over.

Fieldwork was conducted from 21st to 25th July 2005 at UMR Research’s national interview facility in Auckland.

The margin of error for a 50% figure at the ‘95% confidence level’ is ± 3.6%.

Frontline Police numbers in New Zealand

NUMBER OF FRONTLINE POLICE IN NEW ZEALAND

As far as you are aware are there too many, about the right amount or not enough front line police in New Zealand today?

JUL 05
%
Too many 2
About the right amount 17
Not enough 78
Depends (Volunteered) -
Unsure 3
TOTAL 100

Arguments for increasing Frontline Police Numbers

ARGUMENTS FOR INCREASING FRONTLINE POLICE NUMBERS

Regardless of your views on current police levels in New Zealand and using a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 means you find them very convincing and 5 not convincing at all, please tell me how convincing you find the following arguments?

21 – 25 July Omnibus

% 1,Very convincing / 2 /TOTAL 1+ 2 / 3 / 4 / 5, Not convincing at all / TOTAL 4 + 5 / Unsure
Arguments for increasing frontline police numbers.

More police are needed so that police can quickly attend to emergency situations
64 22 86 6 3 5 8 -

More police are needed to deal with the increasing problem of organised crime and gangs in New Zealand.
50 28 78 15 4 3 7 -

More police are needed to ensure New Zealanders can feel safe in their local neighbourhood after dark
50 23 73 14 7 6 13 -

More police are needed to deal with the P drug problem.
50 23 73 15 6 6 12 -

More police are needed to ensure that large numbers of police files are not left unassigned such as happened recently in Counties/ Manukau.
45 26 71 15 5 7 12 2

ENDS

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