The New Zealand Taxpayers Union can reveal through an Official Information Act request that ACC has paid out $217,674 for 255 claims into police dog bites over the last four years.

This information includes 595 bites with 68 to the arm and 59 to the lower leg.

Commenting on this, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“ACC is funded by levies. Taxpayers shouldn’t be picking up the bill for hardened criminals who get themselves hurt whilst out committing crimes."

“ACC’s finances are already in the doghouse, with a $7.2 billion deficit this year and Kiwis facing down massive ACC levy hikes. It’s going to take a lot more than $220k of savings to fix that, but there’s a principle involved - criminals should not be the tail that wags the dog.”

“That’s also just the costs we know about. Given declaring cause of injury is voluntary, and not every criminal who injures themselves getting collared is bitten by a police dog, just how much are we paying so people can avoid the consequences of their own actions?”

“If everyone else is getting stung by the unfortunately much-needed cost-savings, those who have actively chosen to put themselves in harms’ way shouldn’t be able to take the taxpayer for a ride.”

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