The Government’s “very ambitious” target to recruit 500 extra police officers by the end of next year will be “very, very challenging” to meet, police officials have told MPs, and could take longer than promised by the coalition.
Labour has seized on police hesitancy about meeting the figure, agreed to as part of National and NZ First’s coalition agreement, saying the “promise is down the gurgler”.
But Associate Police Minister Casey Costello said it remained “my commitment to absolutely achieve” the target.
Newly-appointed Police Commissioner Richard Chambers and an array of his top officials appeared in front of MPs at the justice select committee earlier today.
Opposition police spokesperson Ginny Andersen pressed for details on the targets.
“It’s a very ambitious target. We’ve always accepted that from the outset — very, very challenging,” said deputy commissioner Chris de Wattignar.
The coalition agreed to introduce 500 new officers over two years, but Mitchell had a different timeline. (Source: 1News)
Andersen then asked de Wattignar if delivering on the target by the end of June 2026 was a more accurate timeframe. He responded: “That’s probably a more accurate picture of the target — with our projections at the moment.”
But the deputy commissioner also suggested recent recruiting initiatives had been “quite successful”, with “the pipeline is looking better than it’s been for a while”, adding that “we do relish a challenge in police” — referring to the targets set by the Government.
Chambers said police were “going to work very, very hard to do our best” to meet the 2025 dates set by the coalition.
“I’m focused on rolling out 500 new police officers that are the best police officers this country can have,” the Police Commissioner said.
Christopher Luxon says his police minister was simply outlining the challenges and he has not ruled out the two-year plan. (Source: Breakfast)
“And we’re not going to compromise that quality of police officer. If it takes us a little bit of extra time to produce the best men and women of our organisation for the frontline, then we’ll take that. I think that’s probably the community expectation”.
Police Minister Mark Mitchell has been facing the heat over the coalition promise.
In January, he backtracked on comments suggesting it would take three years to achieve, instead of the two years agreed with NZ First. At the time, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said “we’re sticking with 500 police officers in two years”.
Mitchell, alongside Costello, was still committed to the target in June, when asked by media, despite doubts from the police union.
Following the select committee, Andersen said there the coalition agreement had been broken and there had been a “flip flop” on the issue.
“Mark Mitchell famously flip-flopped on this number, confusing the public with messy sums, but the truth of his hollow promise has been revealed,” she said in a media release.
“Perhaps if Mark Mitchell had the support of his Government to pay police fairly, he wouldn’t be in this predicament and the public would feel safer.”
Minster still confident in 2025 promise
Despite the commissioner’s comments, the Government remained committed to the November 2025 deadline, according to Costello.
The NZ First MP said the target was not unrealistic and that Chambers never said it wasn’t achievable during today’s select committee hearing.
“He didn’t say it wasn’t achievable. He said it was going to be challenging. And we’ve always said it’s going to be challenging,” she said.
“We’re committed to achieving an additional 500 police officers by November next year.”
Costello added: “We’ve done the numbers. We’ve extrapolated out — if we fill the wings, we get the wings through college, then it’s achievable,”
Asked if she would stake her job on the promise, she replied: “That’s a very odd question.”
