More community police sought

Press, 2 November 1984, Page 33

More community police sought

PA Wellington More staff were needed for a community policing system and to cope with increased youth offences, the president bf the Police Officers’ Guild, Chief Superintendent Jim Glynn, has said.

Speaking at the opening of the two-day conference of the guild in Wellington, Mr Glynn said the police simply did not have enough staff to pursue a practical policing style with any vigour. “A community policing system requires the police to take the initiative in community-based crimepreventive action and not to be a peripheral human salvage collector,” he said.

“People feel better with a community system. The quality of life improves. The public want it and they seem prepared to pay for it,” Mr Glynn said. The “gigantic” problem of the future would be in youth offending — “All the signs are there," he said. He warned that the police could not commit staff to community policing at the expense of mobile patrols and other specialist groups. “People still demand an instant response. It is no good telling them late on a Friday night we have no staff available,” said Mr Glynn. The Minister of Police, Mrs Hercus, told the confer-

ence that th ere was crying need for. research into the causes of Very little research had been done m New Zealand on either the causes , O f • crime, or the effectiveness of measures which could he ' taken, to try to reduce crime, she said. y Mrs Hercus said that “the time has come for a great deal more research on the subject in our country and in our communities. “Crime has been described as the fastest-grow-ing industry in the world. If we are to spend public money in an attempt to reduce the level of crime we must not do so blindly,” said Mrs Hercus.