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.
Sanctuary 2.1.1
Yes, and the state of our Navy ought to be a national scandal and a matter in urgent need of remediation.
High attrition and chronic skills shortages means we have two aging frigates with barely enough sailors to fully crew one of them to combat readiness, ships spending long periods in harbour due to manning issues, while the RNZN s poor spending of limited funds (Politicians in NZ largely leave the purchasing decisions to public sector technocrats. The NZDF has a very poor procurement record, look at the EH-101 helicopters, the P-8 purchase and the money wasted on the LAVs) means that the four inshore patrol vessels that only came into service in 2009 have basically been a giant waste of public money, pretty much just swinging on the anchor since around 2012.
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.
After abandoning a pursuit due to safety concerns, police went to the vehicle owner's home and tried calling them. Three hours later, the driver was dead.
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