Frontline Services

Key Issue - A need to increase frontline response and investigator numbers

People call for police when they have a problem and they need our help. Each day we receive nearly 1,500 calls made on the 111 system and over 2,500 non-emergency calls. Providing a professional officer with the appropriate people skills, training and tools to each event is our most important daily task. The timeliness and quality of police response is an area where a challenge has been laid for us. A few high profile events have resulted in public comment and media scrutiny at times where it is considered police could or should have responded better. The recently completed review of police communications centres has been helpful in this regard and implementation of the recommendations is underway.

Sustained population growth focused on the top half of the North Island continues to stretch already busy staff in those high-growth areas. Steps have been taken to shift staff within existing structures to alleviate pressure, and the investment in communications centres has assisted with call answering and dispatch, but even with no further population growth, more staff are needed to maintain core services in some locations.

Allowing for anticipated population increases and staff attrition, and recognising the need to maintain high standards in the recruitment and training process, it is suggested that a managed resource increase approach is adopted. Average police officer attrition is around 350 - 400 (4.5%) per year. Replacing those officers, and allowing for increases to meet operational demands would see the police recruiting and training around 600 to 700 staff per year. Additional staff of about 300 over attrition per year will achieve a required resource base to meet police service demand described in this briefing.

Additional staff will be deployed by the Commissioner to priority areas and improve the quality of policing, as it will provide staff in those pressured areas with the opportunity to engage in more problem solving at incident scenes. Extra staff will also allow for increased deployment of officers in high visibility roles which will assist public reassurance that police are 'out and about' in communities. High visibility policing and increased interaction with the public will also aid connections between police and the community, and promote increased confidence.

Additional staff will also be used to address important needs identified in the criminal investigations area, such as reducing the number of cases waiting for enquiry. There will also be investigative staff with available time to tackle increasing numbers of complex investigations, arising in areas such as organised crime, electronic crime, and complex fraud.

Key Issue - A need to reduce staff safety risks, bolster field supervision and improve investigation file quality for Court with more sworn positions at Sergeant and Senior Sergeant level

Increased frontline supervision will improve staff safety management and professional standards management, two areas that require particular attention in cities where we have larger numbers of less experienced staff.

Police also want to maintain high standards of investigation and file preparation, especially on prosecution files. The recent review of the police role in the prosecution process informs us that the standard of files for court has, on occasion, been found wanting. Any deterioration of file quality is a concern and we are eager to bolster frontline supervision and increase field supervision quality standards to address this.Better supervision will assist in managing the increasing complexity and sensitivity of evidence in cases going to court, and provide experience and guidance to less experienced staff that have increasingly and necessarily taken on leading roles in some serious crime management.

Key Issue - Considering next steps in areas of road policing enforcement alongside education and engineering options

Road policing is an essential part of police capability. Police and partner agencies have made excellent progress towards the goals of the 2010 national road safety plan. However, the large gains of recent years have levelled off and it is recommended that new policy and new investments are required to achieve the 2010 road safety targets. Policy for consideration includes lowering speed limits, lowering breath and blood alcohol limits, strengthening capability to tackle drug impaired driving, enhanced sanctions (demerits for all speed offenders), and allowing more extensive use of speed enforcement tactics.

Over the next 3 - 12 months we will be asking the Minister to support proposals and consider increasing police baseline funding and/or monitor the following activities:

• funding to increase frontline staffing to achieve the service demands of policing;
• funding to improve field supervision in uniform branch and criminal investigations branch; and
• considering new road safety initiatives and policies to contribute to necessary gains toward the 2010 road safety targets.