Hon Chris Hipkins

Minister of Police

Police Minister Chris Hipkins congratulates the newest Police wing – wing 355 – which graduated today in Porirua.

“These 70 new constables heading for the frontline bring the total number of new officers since Labour took office to 3,303 and is the latest mark of our commitment to the Police and to public safety,” Chris Hipkins said.

“Police has increased planned recruitment levels for this financial year to ensure it replaces attrition and other movements, further supporting the Government’s commitment of 1,800 additional officers on the front line.

“Current projections are for recruits graduating from the Royal New Zealand Police College to be in the 750-850 range to June next year – an estimated 60-80 new recruits a month.

“I’m particularly proud of the work that has been done to see diversity among frontline Police staff increase at record levels, to better represent the communities in which they serve.

“This graduating wing – Wing 355 – has the highest proportion ever of wāhine Māori in a wing, with 24 wāhine.

“Wāhine Māori are under-represented in the constabulary workforce and Police have a recruitment focus on lifting their numbers.

“Police is aiming to match its workforce demographics to population demographics, and after today Wāhine Māori will be approximately 3.9 per cent of the constabulary workforce.

“This is nearly double the number at the start of the 1,800 investment in 2017 and about half way to matching the wider population.

“This progress comes following another recent milestone of one in four Police officers – a quarter of our Police – being women.

“It represents a near-50 per cent increase over the past five years and equates to more than 800 additional women working on the frontline than there was five years ago.

“The previous growth of 800 women in police took 22 years, so this represents a significant step towards achieving a more representative workforce that better reflects the communities police serve. That can only be a good thing.”

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