Mr Bolger says police resources inadequate

Press, 12 June 1987, Page 4

Mr Bolger says police resources inadequate

Wellington reporter Police figures showing a decline in reported crime reflected the inadequacy of police resources rather than a real drop in offending, said the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Bolger, yesterday. Mr Bolger said ; that people no. longer bothered to report the sort of minor offending which made up the bulk of total reported crime.

People believed it was a waste of time going to the police because the police lacked the resources to investigate.

A more real indicator was violent crime which had shown substantial increases in the year ended March 31, he said. The Government should have employed 30 more policemen instead of running the “rub out crime” advertising campaign, said Mr Bolger. He reiterated Opposition policy to respond to all reasonable police requests or resources, but would not say how many extra police this promise involved. The Government, however, has linked the drop

in reported crime to community awareness of crime prevention. The Acting Minister of Police, Mr Caygill, said that 14.000 people now belonged to community support groups, and crime-prevention programmes and community policing were both raising public awareness. The increase in the number of serious assaults and sexual offences was still a cause of concern. “Any level of violence in our streets or homes is unacceptable,” he said.