Soaring levels of crime and high profile protests at Parliament and the Posie Parker rally have made policing a political hot topic over the past three years. Following last week’s budget, Police Minister Ginny Andersen announced that the government was nearing its goal of recruiting an additional 1800 frontline officers, as pledged in 2017.
According to Andersen, the new funding will guarantee the maintenance of the current ratio of at least one officer for every 480 New Zealanders. In 2017, the ratio stood at one officer for every 544 individuals.
