The Minister of Police, George Hawkins, has today welcomed the graduation of 59 new police from the Royal New Zealand Police College.

"That's a real boost for the Police Districts around the country" said Mr Hawkins. "And the great news is that there are more to come – a total of around 236 new police (including those who graduated today) will be stationed around the country by the end of the year."

"The focus will be on resourcing districts with the most vacancies" said Mr Hawkins. I am looking forward to seeing police numbers boosted significantly around the country once our final wing for the year graduates at the end of November."

Mr Hawkins said that of the wing that graduated today, twelve police are destined for Counties Manukau, ten to North Shore/Waitakere and eight to Wellington. An extra six police will go to the Central District, five to Auckland City, four to the Waikato, three each to Northland and Canterbury, and two each to Southern, Eastern, and Bay of Plenty and Tasman.

Mr Hawkins said that Police numbers nationwide are looking healthy, with a total of 7078 sworn police, including those at the Police College.

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