New Zealand Executive Government Speech Archive

I am pleased to be here today to discuss the changing face of law and order and to talk about what the Government's aims are to create safer communities.

The Government invests $800 million per year on Police services and that has increased by $200 million since 1990. It means every household in New Zealand contributed $670 towards police services.

Police, I am pleased to say, have been achieving some very positive results with their more focused approach, particularly with the development of the Police five year strategic plan in 1993.

The strategic plan identified a major shift in focus for policing within New Zealand, more so a year on from the merger of our old Ministry of Transport Traffic Safety Division with Police.

It is unfortunate though, that the public often have a very different perception of the real story - the headlines suggest that crime is rising in our communities. The corollary of which is that Policing is failing. It is most definitely not. We have a success story to tell and it is time people looked past the "media-hype" to see that the facts support this success

Reported crime in New Zealand has been relatively static since 1993, particularly after rising crime levels in the eighties. In 1985, crime levels were increasing by nearly 8%.

We are also seeing the excellent results in our communities over the last few years, with a lower level of crime - for the year to December 1994, New Zealand experienced nearly a 3% reduction in reported crime and the Police clearance rate for offences has increased by 6%.

For the last nine months from July 1995 to March 1996, overall reported violence is down 2%, grievous/serious assaults are down 3.5% and other assaults are down by 1% when compared with the same period for the previous year.

In fact, 1993 was only the second time Police had achieved a reduction in crime over the last 30 years.

Locally, in the Te Awamutu Police District which covers Te Awamutu, Matamata, Morrinsville and Te Aroha, the overall reported crime level for the seven major crime groups has reduced between 1991 and 1995.

In 1991, there were 16,006 reported crimes and in 1995, this level had reduced to 15,274. A reduction of over 700 offences.

We have targeted repeat offenders, family violence and burglary. The achievements in each of these areas are welcome, for example burglary is now down by 20%. The firm policy Police have introduced on family violence is having a substantial impact in that area.

Our road toll continues to decline. Last year, we had the lowest annual road toll for 30 years! Yet New Zealanders do not seem aware of these facts.

Our road toll is currently running below last year's levels, 256 have died to date and last year for the same period we had 272 deaths on our roads. That means 16 less deaths on last year's road toll.

The Police role is changing as society changes, and so must its use of the resources of the taxpayer.

One such change has been the proactive use of the media. Such publicity campaigns have a huge impact on the role of policing as well as on society.

I am sure that in the long term it will help New Zealanders adapt and improve their behaviour.

The New Zealand Police have initiated some excellent publicity campaigns initially based on preventing drink-driving, moving on to anti-speed, and last year, focusing on campaigning against domestic violence.

Today, for example, there is great awareness at all levels of society of the dangers in drink-driving - it is now seen as socially unacceptable and New Zealanders have responded with a more responsible attitude.

The domestic violence campaign has focused attention directly on the home environment and I believe we are now seeing a change towards such violence - it is seen to be a crime and is treated by Police accordingly!

In addition to the Police efforts, the Government has been focusing very strongly on family violence and just recently, the Prime Minister released the Government's "Statement of Policy on Family Violence".

This policy aims to contribute a co-ordinated approach to the prevention of family violence in New Zealand.

The statistics available in this area indicate the scale of family violence in our country. For the 1994/95 year there was an increase by 17.5% over the previous in the reports of male assault against females made to Police.

It is not just the cost of this dreadful violence to the victims, but also the acknowledgment that the economic costs of family violence in 1993/94 have been estimated at between $1.187 billion and $5.302 billion.

Meanwhile, Police still have to deal with the expectations of its customers - the public.

We have to ask ourselves whether or not we meet those expectations and if not, seek to better understand them before developing strategies to promote particular aspects of policing.

I am a strong advocate of encouraging communities to take ownership of issues of concern, in both crime prevention and criminal activity. The message to communities for the '90's and the 21st century must be that crime prevention and enforcement must go hand in hand if we are to continue the Police success story of the last few years.

Police cannot, and should not be expected to be the sole providers of a solution to crime. It must be, and it is, in partnership with our communities , and both local and central government.

To that end, the Government is implementing the New Zealand Crime Prevention Strategy, announced by the Prime Minister in 1994, and which has as its mission statement to enhance community safety and security through crime prevention and relates to the Police focus of Safer Communities Together.

The strategy outlines seven key objectives. This approach recognises the shift from enforcement being the total answer to crime and road safety, to one of endeavouring to deal with the root causes of some of our problems.

In this year's Budget, the Government announced a $50 million crime prevention

package which builds on our strategy and in particular, focuses on juvenile offending.

We have worked hard to ensure that specific priority areas are targeted to assist in dealing with the wider issues of policing and ensuring that our communities are safer.

This package reflects our commitment to safer communities and provides for: · $11 million for 12 initiatives focusing on crime prevention over the next three years; · $33 million over the next three years for the Children and Young Persons Service; · $6.5 million extra for family violence protection programmes; and · $650,000 over the next three years for the Commissioner for children.

Our Police are making every effort to ensure that their policing role encourages a supportive environment to the crime prevention focus.

In the information technology area, our Police are implementing the introduction of the Integrated National Crime Information System (INCIS) which was agreed to in 1994 by the Government.

It involves the investment of $100 million of taxpayers funds to provide a state of the art information system which will offer considerable savings in terms of the paperwork levels currently required of our Police officers.

It is ridiculous to expect our officers to spend 43 percent of their time on paperwork and administration. I expect with the new system for Police to be able to reduce this time substantially and spend more time out in our communities dealing with crime and road safety.

It has been estimated that the extra hours will be the equivalent of between 650 and 800 Police officers per year in our communities. That is where I want

to see our Police, out in our communities, not doing extensive paperwork that can be reduced with technology.

It is unfortunate though, that the scaremongering groups choose to focus on the necessity through the management of the systems introduction, to reduce police staffing in administrative and support areas by around 540.

There appears to be an expectation that the 540 staff will disappear from Police next year. That expectation is completely wrong. The majority of positions will be phased in over a four year period. The positions which will be removed are going to be from support and management positions, not frontline constables.

The critics of the project fail to realise, or understand the gains which will be made with the use of this technology and the related business redesign processes.

In terms of the debate in the media about Police staff numbers, there is little acknowledgment that in reality Police numbers have indeed increased over the last five years.

Since 1991, actual Police staffing levels have increased by 2,282. Sworn staff have increased by 1,659 and non-sworn levels by 623.

This financial year Police are planning to recruit an extra 80-100 sworn staff

.

The issue though for the introduction of technology is not to focus on Police numbers, but rather to find ways to provide Police with extra hours to be in our communities dealing with frontline policing.

The Government is committed to using technology to provide Police with the resources to tackle law and order issues. The use of technology will increasingly, in my view, have to play a greater role in dealing with crime and road safety.

We already see the benefits of new techniques in forensic science and for example in road safety, the use of speed cameras.

It surprises me how vitriolic people are about speed cameras and how many try to prove they should not be used by Police. Again, people fail to see that the use of speed cameras is a necessity if we are to persuade people to keep their speed at reasonable levels in our attempts to save lives and reduce the many injuries suffered on our roads today.

Such is the progressive role of policing, to persuade and inform members of the public of the need for, and the benefits of, new policing enforcement techniques.

Police have been working on an updated strategic plan called "Policing 2000" and I expect this plan to continue to build on the strong foundation of the five year strategic plan.

In addition, policing requirements today mean that police organisations have to ensure that they have very good performance indicators and that they can use transparency as part of their emphasis on accountability.

As we continue to enjoy being part of a global economy, the pressures are on many governments to be more accountable for funding and use of taxpayers funds. In turn, we have greater pressures from many interest groups to expand funding regardless of the fairness of the issue.

In New Zealand, the Government over the last six years has shown consistency in our approach to responsible fiscal management. Not only have we led the world in terms of our government accounting mechanisms, ensuring that we are totally transparent to the taxpayer and voting public, but we also require the same approach from any organisation reliant on taxpayers funds.

For some, it has not been an easy process of adapting to new requirements. Police have had to undergo considerable change management to meet this fiscal demand and I might add, have been doing an excellent job with their resources as a result.

There is also the extra resourcing provided for road safety campaigns. I am pleased to acknowledge my colleague, the Minister of Transport, Hon Maurice Williamson announced an extra $5 million for road safety recently, which is in addition to the $10 million road safety package announced last year.

I want to now cover an issue that has been raised locally regarding juvenile offenders. As I said earlier, our crime prevention package is largely aimed at juvenile offenders. Concerns have been raised about some of our young people who commit serious crimes, particularly the serious offenders and the repeat offenders. There are some calls for this group to be treated on the same basis as adults.

The Children and Young Persons and Their Families Act is able to deal with child and youth offending contrary to some perceptions. The Act has very clear provisions to deal with child offending.

Under the Act, any child aged 10-13 years or young person, aged 14 to 16 years , who commits an offence is required to be held accountable and encouraged to accept responsibility for his or her offending.

Unlike the procedures applied for adult offenders, an important aspect to note about the Act is that the child's or young persons family, extended family and other individuals who have a significant relationship with that child, or young person, are entitled to be involved in deciding what to do about his or her offending.

Another important aspect is that victims of any offences committed by a child or young person, are also entitled to be involved in decisions about how to deal with the young offender.

All the research carried out since the introduction of the Act, indicates that this is a successful approach to dealing with children's and young peoples offending.

Combining the victims needs and ability to influence proceedings and including family or extended family in the process, creates an environment within which the offender can be confronted with both their actions, results and consequences of such actions.

However, a Government working group is looking at a number of issues including how to improve referral processes for youth at risk, and identifying factors which may cause young people to miss out on early intervention and support before their offending becomes a problem.

The working group is also looking at programmes which assist young offenders t o move from negative to positive behaviour.

I also note that the Children and Young Persons Service is looking at having more secure facilities over the next few years to deal with some of the repeat youth offenders.

Yet, no parent can become complacent. There is also a growing awareness of the need for greater parenting skills, and a few years ago, the Government introduced "Parents As First Teachers" which is aimed at helping parents gain skills to help in their care and education of their children.

For the Government, our overall objective remains and is to reduce the level of crime and the number of deaths and injuries on our roads. We have initiated a series of positive commitments in the law and order area and are seeing excellent results.

One of our most important tasks is to provide a safer environment for New Zealanders and as I have outlined today, we have been working very effectively to achieve this.

We will continue our focus on community partnerships to ensure that the policing needs of local communities are met, and as a result, I believe we will continue to see the Policing success story.