Police to get 50 more—Mrs Hercus

Press, 23 July 1987, Page 6

Police to get 50 more— Mrs Hercus

PA New Plymouth New Zealand will soon have another 50 police, the Minister of Police, Mrs Hercus, announced in New Plymouth last evening. The Cabinet recently decided to add 50 police to front-line duties, primarily because of civilians being recruited for certain administrative tasks, she told a Labour Party New Plymouth electorate meeting. Routine jobs could now be done by civilians and the police would be free to do what they were trained for — police work.

Mrs Hercus said the extra police, in addition to the 100 extra community police positions announced two months ago, would be located throughout New Zealand. However, their placement, training and other associated matters would be left to the Commissioner of Police, Mr Malcolm Churches, of Wellington. This would mean the Government had increased police numbers by 150 for the financial year and by 388 since 1984.

Mrs Hercus’s speech to the 40 people at the meeting was on law and order and contrasted what the Government had done in

the last three years with what the last National Government did in nine years. The Muldoon Administration’s performance concerning police matters could only be described as inadequate, Mrs Hercus said. That government failed to implement several things the Labour Government had succeeded in doing — the early retirement package for police officers and the substan-. tial pay reviews. Mrs Hercus said she was very disappointed with the Police Association, which had done “so well out of the Labour Government.” The association had run an anti-Labour campaign and clearly associated itself with the Coalition for Concerned Citizens, which had active National Party links. “I am frankly beginning to believe the jokes about the police union being the National Party in uniform.” The Police Association’s Industrial advocate, Mr Graham Harding, said the association was tired of Mrs Hercus’s “continual sniping.” He said the association carried no political brief for any party and made no apology for it.