Media Release

For Immediate Release
15 April 2013

Warnings from departing police officers must not go unheeded

Comments from departing Taranaki police officer Grant Coward that budget cuts were disheartening police, and could lead to crime increases, echo the sorts of warnings that went unheeded in the late 1990s with disastrous consequences, Police Association President Greg O’Connor said today.

“In the late 1990s, senior police officers warned that budget cuts meant resources were stretched too thin. Gangs, drugs, child abuse and other areas of ‘business-as-usual’ policing were being neglected while Police bosses focussed resources on delivering results in the areas the government demanded,” Mr O’Connor said.

“Those officers saw their warnings unheeded and many left with the same sense of frustration shown in Grant Coward’s comments.

“History shows that the areas warned about all foreshadowed crises – the P epidemic, entrenched organised crime, un-investigated child abuse files, and the Communications Centres crisis that culminated in the tragic disappearance of Iraena Asher.

“At a time when budgets and non-sworn support staff are being cut again, we would be very foolish to ignore the warnings now being given by senior police who have seen the long-term consequences of such cuts before,” Mr O’Connor said.

Mr O’Connor noted that similar warnings were given by former Whangarei Area Commander Paul Dimery when he left the job in July last year.

“These public warnings are just the tip of the iceberg, echoing concerns being expressed privately by many senior officers in police.

“The Police hierarchy will always be tempted to dismiss such warnings as baseless, and those who make them as out of touch with modern policing. And while the statistics keep running their way, the government and public may find it easy to be reassured. However, experience shows that we ignore such warnings at our peril,” Mr O’Connor said.

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