Hon Mark Mitchell
Minister of Police
Hon Paul Goldsmith
Minister of Justice

Today, Police Minister Mark Mitchell, alongside newly appointed Police Commissioner Richard Chambers, welcomed the announcement of a new police station in central Auckland.

“Public safety is at the heart of this Government’s law-and-order programme, and increasing police visibility across our main CBDs is a key part of that.

“Having a central police base, alongside the city’s beat team, is exactly what people expect and what our major city needs. It will enable police to respond more quickly to crime and ensure the public feel safer when going about their daily business.

“When I became Police Minister, I set out my priorities for Police: addressing gangs and organised crime, tackling youth crime and offending, strengthening policing in our communities, and backing the frontline.

“By investing in our frontline police with more funding, powers, and tools, the police have delivered—and I’m pleased with the progress that has been made on all four of these priorities.

“Gangs no longer take over towns during tangi. Police have been proactive in managing these events, and I am confident the public feel safer because of it.

“Our gang legislation has gone into effect. Already, we are seeing high levels of compliance with the patch ban, and the police are acting when compliance isn’t happening. The feedback from the public has been excellent and encouraging.

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“Police have established a new National Gang Unit, along with local Gang Disruption Units across the country. The government’s strong stance on this issue is already paying dividends. The growth of gangs in New Zealand has reduced tenfold—from 10% in 2023 to 1% in 2024.

“Recent operations such as OPERATION Avon have disrupted gang operations across New Zealand. Recent reporting noted that every patched member of the Comancheros in the South Island had been arrested.

“Police are working hard on youth crime. But we know that the causes of it are upstream from Police. That’s why the coalition government is introducing legislation to establish Military Style Academies, to break the cycle of offending, and provide wrap around support to our most serious youth offenders.

“To strengthen policing in our communities, Police have set up Community Beat Teams across New Zealand cities. As a result, police foot patrols have increased by 30%. Having our officers visible goes a long way toward restoring the trust and confidence of the public and deterring crime.

“Backing the frontline has required additional resourcing from the Government. That’s why we’ve funded, per the National-New Zealand First Coalition agreement, 500 additional Police officers. These Officers will be deployed, by the new Commissioner, across New Zealand to meet, prevent, and reduce crime demand across New Zealand.”

Minister of Justice, Paul Goldsmith, says that “Over the last 12 months our Government has moved at pace to restore law and order, and ensure there are 20,000 fewer victims of violent crime by 2029, alongside a 15 per cent reduction in serious repeat youth offending.

“Last week our gangs legislation came into effect, giving police and the courts more tools to crackdown on the misery and intimidation they peddle throughout our community. We’ve also announced two major changes to name suppression laws that’ll put the views of sexual violence victims first, and legislation that will make stalking illegal.

“We’ve scrapped Section 27 cultural reports and the previous Government’s prison reduction target, and sentencing reforms are well underway to ensure criminals face real consequences for crime.”

“We are thrilled with the progress we have made so far, but we still have a long way to go.” says Mr Mitchell.

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