POLICE FORCE RECRUITING

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28099, 15 October 1956, Page 12

POLICE FORCE RECRUITING

OPENING OF NEW CAMPAIGN ABOUT 150 MEN NEEDED (New Zeaiana Press Association) WELLINGTON, October 14. An essential preliminary to the next stage in the strengthening of the Police Force began this evening, when the Prime Minister and Minister of Police (Mr Holland) opened a recruiting campaign for the force. The campaign, according to a spokesman for the department, is being promoted for two reasons: (1) It will provide urgently-required manpower for what the Controller-General (Mr S. T. Barnett) describes as a well-organised attack against crime; and (2) it will assist the attainment of shorter working hours for the force. Though there has never been an approved ratio of police to population in New Zealand, the present aim is for not fewer than one policeman to every 850 persons. At the beginning of this year, the ratio was one to every 1258. With subsequent gains since the beginning of the year, the force now estimates that it requires 150 more men.

To get them, it is offering a salary scale that gives a male constable £790 at the age of 19; £BO5 at 20; and £B2O at 21, with opportunities for promotion after five years. Simultaneously, the force is seeking cadets —youths aged 17 and 18— and offering them £390 to £495 a year, with a prospect of an increase to £790 on the successful completion of the 19 months’ cadetship.