Councillor Welcomes 300 Additional Police

Manukau City Councillor Michael Williams has welcomed an announcement by John Key that National will provide an additional 300 police for Counties Manukau.

“Criminal behaviour has been on the increase as has the city’s population but police numbers have not kept up.” says Mr Williams, “South Auckland has seen an explosion in murder and violent crime while in East Auckland muggings, burglaries and bag snatching have become commonplace because police resources have been committed to more serious crime.”   

Mr Williams says that the $3 million that Manukau was considering spending on private security guards will now be able to be scaled back to a more modest amount sufficient to equip voluntary groups such as Botany Crime Watch Patrol, Maori Wardens and the newly formed Asian Community Patrol formed following the march of 15,000 mainly Asian people through Botany.

“I am relieved that we will not now need to fund private security guards because I have always believed that policing is a central government responsibility and council involvement is a last resort justifiable only in exceptional circumstances.”

Mr Williams would also like to see the model of policing reviewed by the next government.  “While I have trust and confidence in our hard working police, I believe that there are opportunities to increase their efficiency by providing them with improved systems, processes and technologies and by optimising the mix of frontline and support staff.”

ENDS

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