Kris
FAAFOI
Police Spokesperson

2 September 2013 MEDIA STATEMENT

Police attitudes Tolley’s problem

Only a quarter of our cops are ‘fully engaged’ in their work and less than 50% feel as though New Zealand Police care about their wellbeing, according to the latest Police Workplace Survey.

The annual survey, released today, is a routine check-up of the health of our police force as perceived by its constabulary and non-constabulary staff. In 2013, 75% of police participated in the survey.

“The diagnosis is pretty grim,” says Labour’s Police spokesperson Kris Faafoi.

“The survey shows a general decline on scores across all key drivers, including performance, vision, purpose, communication, learning and development.

“Police Minister Anne Tolley can’t shrug off responsibility this time. Her tourniquet on resources has left more than half of police staff feeling as though they don’t have adequate training and increased the proportion of disengaged staff by 3% since the survey was taken just last year.

“Experienced staff who have stuck with the force for ten years or more are Anne Tolley’s harshest critics, giving the Minister the lowest scores overall in nine out of ten key areas.

“Close to 60% of cops that have been with the force for over a decade don’t feel their contribution is valued. That’s abysmal. It’s why we are losing good people, good mentors and a ton of institutional knowledge.

“Our police force prides itself on its ‘high performance culture’. But with three quarters of cops sitting on a spectrum from ‘ambivalent’ to ‘disengaged’, the Minister needs to wake up to the impacts of her decisions.”

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