4. MOANA MACKEY (Labour) Link to this
to the Minister of Police
What reports, if any, has she received about recent police station developments?
Hon ANNETTE KING (Minister of Police) Link to this
[ Interruption] Madam Speaker, I think we are on to police now and not on to Gerry Brownlee.
Madam SPEAKERLast Friday I officially opened the new Manukau Police Station. An investment of $13 million in stage one of a two-stage development will result in enhanced community safety for South Auckland people. It is a 24-hour hub, and is centrally sited in the police district. A state-of-the-art underground prisoner-transfer tunnel has been built between the new station and the District Court. The police think this will help to make the escorting of prisoners more safe.
I know that the member will be very interested that last Thursday I officiated at the sod turning for the new $15.4 million Gisborne Police Station. The current station was built in 1966. The new site is an improved location in the central business district. Members might be interested to know that the Manukau hub was the 31st new or refurbished police station built under this Labour-led Government. This follows the decade of the 1990s, when National, as usual, allowed police facilities to be run down—and that was along with its plan to reduce police numbers by 500.
Ron MarkCould the Minister give the House a progress report on the Government’s plans to recruit front-line officers to fill these new police stations, and how we are progressing that?
The police are on track to recruit 1,000 more police officers over 3 financial years in line with the confidence and supply agreement that Labour has with New Zealand First. Besides steady, ongoing recruitment, a factor that is greatly assisting the police is that the sworn police attrition rate is 3.9 percent—the average attrition rate for a medium to large company is around 13 percent. As of March 2007 there has been an increase in sworn staff members of 423, and that is not including recruits at the Police College. That increase was since March 2006. This equates to a 5.7 percent increase.