6. RON MARK (NZ First) Link to this
to the Minister of Police
Is she concerned at the record number of assaults on police in the last financial year where an average of six officers were attacked every day; if so, what is she doing to ensure the safety of police on the beat?
Hon ANNETTE KING (Minister of Police) Link to this
Yes. This House and the public of New Zealand should always be concerned at assaults on police officers, the people we rely on to uphold law and order on our streets. Several measures have been put in place to increase the safety of officers on the beat, including the additional 1,250 police staff, under our agreement with New Zealand First; the roll-out of stab-resistant body armour, which will be completed by December 2007; the strengthening and funding of community partners like Neighbourhood Watch, Community Patrols, and the Māori Wardens Association, which work closely with the police to make our streets safer; the working with territorial local authorities to provide increased closed-circuit television surveillance and liquor bans in central business districts; and the trial of a non-lethal option, the Taser, to name but a few. However, as every member in this House knows, it is simply not possible to fully ensure the safety of officers. Policing is a dangerous job.
Does the Minister agree with the comments of the Police Association president, Greg O’Connor, on the news of the rise in the number of assaults on police, which totalled 2,248 in the last financial year, that “A lot of it has got to do with P—more people are on it, so more people are prepared to have a go [at police].”, and that the wider increase in violence in our society was another factor in the increase; and could she tell the House whether that concerns her?
Obviously the answer to that is yes and yes, which is why this Government, in conjunction with New Zealand First, has worked in additional numbers of police and has worked with the Police Association not only to ensure that there are better conditions for our police who must go out to face the front line but also to ensure that the people of New Zealand know that the safety of our streets is not just a role for the New Zealand Police but a role for all of us, including our community partners. To expect the police to be on every corner is not realistic. Working closely with organisations like the Māori Wardens Association, etc., I think, adds to the capacity of our police to be able to undertake their role.
The Commissioner of Police said at the time the Taser trial was implemented that he would withdraw the Tasers from the trial and then evaluate the project. He has informed me that it is on track for him to look at that report on 14 December.
Chester BorrowsWhat assurance can the Minister give that stab-resistant body armour will be distributed according to the real risk of injury, when 10 front-line police in Papakura still have no protection at a time when there are in excess of 80 violent street gangs operating in their patch; and just when will all front-line police in Papakura be issued with stab-proof vests?
I take the word of the Deputy Commissioner of Police Rob Pope when he tells me that the stab-resistant body armour will be rolled out by December this year, and that the aim was to get it to all front-line police first. If they are not in Papakura yet, as the member claims, then that is a decision for the district commander, and one that I am certainly happy to take up with Mr Pope. But I believe that all the stab-resistant body armour will be in place by December this year.
When the number of attacks on police is running at six each and every day, with one of them being a serious attack; when the Police Association is calling for the introduction of Tasers; when we have the Commissioner of Police, Howard Broad, reportedly telling police privately: “The Taser trial was a major success. The Tasers are a must.”; and when we have just witnessed the shooting to death of a drug-fuelled man who attacked a police officer, can the Minister tell the House why Tasers have still not been introduced—or is it that this delay in issuing Tasers is simply a public relations exercise to defuse the expected political backlash from the “loony tunes” on the left who would oppose the police receiving the Tasers?
It is for none of those reasons that the member has given. The Commissioner of Police gave his word that there would be a trial, that there would be evaluation of that trial, and that at the end of that evaluation a decision would be made. To have gone ahead and issued Tasers without completing the word that he gave would have meant that he had not kept his word, and he had no intention of doing that.