Spokesperson for Police
17 May 2013

Nats Soft on Crime Says NZ First

New Zealand First says a bottom line cut of $36 million from the Police budget shows the Government pays only lip service to law and order.

Police spokesperson Richard Prosser says the Government’s spin machine will have to work very hard to convince New Zealanders that funding cutbacks for the Police will result in more offenders being caught and a safer society.

“Police numbers are dropping all the time. Giving the remaining police officers more smartphones won’t help solve burglaries that aren’t being investigated because of staff shortages.

“It won’t stem the tide of disaffected officers crossing the Tasman, and all the spin in the world won’t change the fact that fewer patrols and fewer police will mean more unsolved crimes, more drunks on the road and even less protection available to people late at night and out in the provinces.

“Even now people aren’t reporting crime because they know the police don’t have sufficient resources to investigate it, and this incomprehensible slashing of the Police operating budget will make it far worse.

“It’s gobsmacking that National claims to be tough on crime while at the same time stripping tens of millions of dollars from Vote Police,” says Mr Prosser.

ENDS

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