Police Recruiting “Brightening”

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31984, 10 May 1969, Page 1

Police Recruiting “Brightening”

It would be two to ; three years before the ‘New Zealand police had the maximum permisj sible number of one policeman to every 920 - of population—recently changed from the ratio ' of one to every 950, said | the Commissioner of | Police (Mr G. C, I Urquhart) in Christi church yesterday. “When we attain the maximum ,mMpber. .W jriti again ask the Government to raise the permissible level,’’ Mr Urquhart said. “The recruiting situation is brightening. The wing going into the polite training school

has 60 men and six women. We expect to have 90 men and women in a training wing to start in August. “When the 66 now in training graduate in August they will be joined by 75 cadets to swell the police ranks.” Mr Urquhart was asked whether Hie high rate of Crime clearance in Timaru last year, 78 per cent, compared with the much lower rates in Auckland (43) and Christchurch (54) showed that either the Timaru police were better thantheir counterparts or that Auckland [and Christchurch needed more police. “The Timaru police fire no more or less efficient than the Auckland or Christchurch police. The total crime rate in Timaru is much lower than in Auckland or in Christchurch,’’ho replied.

“More policemen in Auckland and Christchurch would not necessarily mean a higher crime clearance rate, but it would certainly mean a higher crime detection and crime prevention rate. “Cities the size of Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch harbour a large number of transient criminals.” When it was pointed out that Christchurch had only one crime prevention officer, whose area ran from Kaikoura to Oamaru and included Westland, and suggested that he might well do better with tome assistance, Mr Urquhart "We .have a crime prevention headquarters section in Wellington, and the crime prevention officers throughout the country are doing a splendid job. But every poUcetnia is a crime preven-

tion officer. They are instructed in the work and it is pointed out to them that this is a most important part of their job.” ’ He added that every decent citizen was a crime prevention officer and between 98 and 99 per cent of the population were decent people. “The disorderly protesters and the anti-social demonstrators are very vocal, but dealing with them comprises only a. minute part of police wbrk,” he said. “Police duties at demonstrations and protest marches are pot burdensome, and may even be pleasant if those taking part behave in a reasonable way. “The disorderly, vandals and violent form only a very small segment of our population,” Mt Urquhart said.