Police halt training despite rise in gun crime, recruits left in limbo
9 Jan, 2021 05:36 AM
5 minutes to read
Armed police respond to the emergency situation in Rotorua Sunday night. Video / Andrew Warner
Cheree Kinnear is a sports reporter for NZMEcheree.kinnear@nzherald.co.nz
Police have put the brakes on training new officers, despite a rise in gun violence and gang activity.
The delay has left hundreds of recruits in limbo and means the Government is still well short of its promise last term to put an extra 1800 cops on the streets by last year.
Candidates of an upcoming training wing were initially scheduled to attend the Royal New Zealand Police College in February.
Recruit Wing 342 graduates from the Royal New Zealand Police College Thursday, January 7, 2021 IWK Bureau
For the last time in 2020, a batch of new constables prepared to join their districts. Recruit Wing 342 graduated in mid-December from the Royal New Zealand Police College (RNZPC), adding 59 to the 500 constables who had already joined the front line during 2020.
The year saw Police pass the landmark of 10,000 officers; it also saw training significantly challenged by COVID-19, with some wings unable to invite loved ones to graduation. But there was a lively full house at the RNZPC as Wing 342 proudly paraded in front of Commissioner Andrew Coster, Police Minister Poto Williams and others to mark the end of initial training. Wing 342 members were a diverse lot. A number were born in India, with others from South Africa, Samoa, Singapore, Ireland and the UK. As well as English, members speak Mandarin, Tongan, Samoan, Afrikaans, Hindi and Punjabi.
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