Kris
FAAFOI
Police Spokesperson

14 December 2012 MEDIA STATEMENT

Minister dancing on the head of a pin – and it’s not a good look

South Island communities will not be impressed with the jig the Government is attempting on the head of a pin in trying to deny that plans are afoot to substantially lower the number of Police positions in the Mainland, Labour’s police spokesman Kris Faafoi said today.

“The Government says no staff will be shifting. This is not about shifting staff it is about shifting positions and jobs,” Kris Faafoi said.

“We understand that as positions become vacant in the South Island they will not be filled and those positions will be shifted North.

“So when a spokesman says police are ‘assessing their resourcing needs in each district and any changes required will be achieved through attrition and strategic recruitment’, in plain English that means when people leave we won’t be replacing them in the location they were in.

“We have been told that 200-300 positions in the South Island are planned to be shifted from the South Island to the North Island. We have also been told this will mean no new Police recruits will be sent South after they graduate.

“Anne Tolley has not yet denied these specific points.

“South Islanders deserve to know if the Police resourcing in the Mainland is going to be seriously diminished. Anne Tolley’s dancing on the head of a pin is not a good look. And it’s not straight answer for them either.”

© Scoop Media