The thin blue line
April 18th, 2008, 7:53 pm Hobbies News
The thin blue line does not appear to be getting any thicker around our region, despite assurances to the contrary.
Police bosses in Alexandra say that the February incident was an isolated one and related to rostering issues, but Id suggest it was a situation which should never have occurred and that the outcome could have been much more serious.
Last year, on average, six Kiwi police officers were assaulted every day. That number is higher than at any time in New Zealands history and it is something that must weigh heavily on the minds of senior police and their staff.
Its certainly an issue facing officers working in small towns and one that was highlighted to me recently when I took part in a panel discussion with Police Association President Greg OConnor talking about community policing.
Police Minister Annette King tells us that additional police staff have been provided to the Central Otago district, including three community constables, five officers involved in the rural drink-drive programme and two support staff.
However, she must concede that these are fundamentally backup people and not the frontline staff that are so badly needed. Even senior police in Alexandra acknowledge that more manpower would be beneficial.
In 2005 Annette King promised us 1000 more sworn frontline police.
Unfortunately, these staff did not arrive. In fact of the first group of 353 new officers only 32 percent were actually considered frontline. The rest were sent to areas such as recruitment and road policing.
That of course brings us to Central Otagos new five-officer rural drink-drive squad.
Under the present circumstances, I do not believe we can afford to see our valuable police staff out on the job generating revenue for the Government by writing out speeding tickets, when they should be working together on the frontline keeping our communities safe.
We need to watch that this new police squad doesnt simply become a money-making exercise for Wellington, while crime within our small communities runs rampant and officers lives are put at risk.
Related posts
