RADIO NEW ZEALAND: The National Party says it would put 220 more police officers on the street than Labour, and a significant number of those would be sent to South Auckland.
The party wants to see one officer for every 500 people. The current ratio is one to 520.
National's leader John Key says he wants to see more police officers out on the street, as the current numbers are being stretched too thin.
Mr Key says National would look to boost the number by ensuring the remainder of the extra 1,000 police staff being recruited under Labour would only be frontline staff. He says only 210 of those recruits have so far been posted to frontline duties.
And Mr Key says the party would recruit an extra 220 than Labour would by 2011, with many of those officers going to the Counties Manukau District.
"In our opinion, this will be of substantial benefit to the citizens of New Zealand, particularly to those that live in South Auckland, who we've seen in recent times are very concerned about law and order issues. We are not going to sit back in a situation where there have been seven murders in 15 weeks in South Auckland."
Mr Key says not only would the boost result in more people being arrested for criminal activity, but more police on the street would provide a visible deterrent.
He says the policy would cost an additional $18.5 million each year.
Listen to John Key questioned on details
Labour's response
The Labour Party says National is trying to hoodwink the public with its promise of more frontline police.
Labour's spokesperson on police issues, Annette King, says National is using misleading information, with its definition of frontline policing excluding all officers except those in patrol cars.
She says that excludes those working in areas such as homicide, organised crime and community work.
Ms King also says family violence, not street crime, is mostly behind an increase in violent offences.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment