Police under Pressure
A fundamental responsibility of the state is to ensure the safety of its citizens. Being safe is one of the real advantages of living in New Zealand where we are free from the conflict that engulfs so many other countries.
Police also report that since the 1990s, overall crime has been declining in
New Zealand. That is not much consolation, however, to the victims of crime in our country.
Alarmingly, on the Law and Order Select Committee we found that crime resolution rates by Police in what is called volume crime, burglaries and vehicle theft, has been getting worse not better. If your house is burgled, you’ve got just a one in ten chance of the police catching the offender. If your vehicle is stolen, it’s about one in five. I found that out to my own disadvantage when my motorbike was stolen a couple of weeks ago. It was taken in the middle of the day on a high-pedestrian street, Symonds Street, outside the university. Both my insurance company and the Police said not much could be done and I probably wouldn’t get it back. Tens of thousands of Kiwis each year have the same experience with their homes being burgled or their cars stolen.
If crime is coming down, how come fewer and fewer of these sorts of crimes are being resolved?
The Police Commissioner told me that Police focus today is on prevention (instead of catching the criminals?). I would have thought that the best form of prevention is leaving criminals in little doubt that if they rip off other people’s propertythey have a good chance of being caught and ending up in prison.
Clearly, with only 11 per cent of burglars being apprehended and 18 per cent of vehicle thieves, criminals take the opposite message. They think they can steal things and get away with it. The statistics show that they are right, and that is not good enough.
One of the problems is that there is more and more demand on police services while the money Government is giving them is being cut in real terms. I’m not in favour of big taxes but I am in favour of Police being given the money to do their jobs properly and to protect us from crime. Why then cut real spending year after year on policing so the Police have to do more with less? The Police Association is right to protest against these Budget cuts.
The Police Commissioner also acknowledged that the Police have had, in recent years, to absorb $300 million in costs out of their Budget. I believe in efficiency but when you are not funded to meet rising costs to that extent, the Police aren’t going to be able to absorb costs without reducing or putting at risk Police services. Further evidence of that problem is reflected in a new Bill before Parliament called the Policing (Cost Recovery) Bill, which allows the Police now to charge the public for basic Police services.
As long as their Budget keeps being cut, we will see more and more services become user pays, and a decline in Police effectiveness. That’s exactly what the Police’s own statistics show in their declining ability to resolve crime and catch the crooks.
A fundamental responsibility of the state is to ensure the safety of its citizens. Being safe is one of the real advantages of living in New Zealand where we are free from the conflict that engulfs so many other countries.
Police also report that since the 1990s, overall crime has been declining...
A fundamental responsibility of the state is to ensure the safety of its citizens. Being safe is one of the real advantages of living in New Zealand where we are free from the conflict that engulfs so many other countries.
Police also report that since the 1990s, overall crime has been declining in
New Zealand. That is not much consolation, however, to the victims of crime in our country.
Alarmingly, on the Law and Order Select Committee we found that crime resolution rates by Police in what is called volume crime, burglaries and vehicle theft, has been getting worse not better. If your house is burgled, you’ve got just a one in ten chance of the police catching the offender. If your vehicle is stolen, it’s about one in five. I found that out to my own disadvantage when my motorbike was stolen a couple of weeks ago. It was taken in the middle of the day on a high-pedestrian street, Symonds Street, outside the university. Both my insurance company and the Police said not much could be done and I probably wouldn’t get it back. Tens of thousands of Kiwis each year have the same experience with their homes being burgled or their cars stolen.
If crime is coming down, how come fewer and fewer of these sorts of crimes are being resolved?
The Police Commissioner told me that Police focus today is on prevention (instead of catching the criminals?). I would have thought that the best form of prevention is leaving criminals in little doubt that if they rip off other people’s propertythey have a good chance of being caught and ending up in prison.
Clearly, with only 11 per cent of burglars being apprehended and 18 per cent of vehicle thieves, criminals take the opposite message. They think they can steal things and get away with it. The statistics show that they are right, and that is not good enough.
One of the problems is that there is more and more demand on police services while the money Government is giving them is being cut in real terms. I’m not in favour of big taxes but I am in favour of Police being given the money to do their jobs properly and to protect us from crime. Why then cut real spending year after year on policing so the Police have to do more with less? The Police Association is right to protest against these Budget cuts.
The Police Commissioner also acknowledged that the Police have had, in recent years, to absorb $300 million in costs out of their Budget. I believe in efficiency but when you are not funded to meet rising costs to that extent, the Police aren’t going to be able to absorb costs without reducing or putting at risk Police services. Further evidence of that problem is reflected in a new Bill before Parliament called the Policing (Cost Recovery) Bill, which allows the Police now to charge the public for basic Police services.
As long as their Budget keeps being cut, we will see more and more services become user pays, and a decline in Police effectiveness. That’s exactly what the Police’s own statistics show in their declining ability to resolve crime and catch the crooks.
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