M.P.s challenged to give stance on cuts

Press, 22 June 1989, Page 6

M.P.s challenged to give stance on cuts

Christchurch's members of Parliament have been challenged to say whether they support a reduction in police numbers. The challenge was issued last evening by the chairman of the Waimairi District Council, Mrs Margaret Murray, who questioned whether the endorsement of the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Palmer, for the cuts had the support of the caucus. “If Mike Moore, David Caygill or Margaret Austin have any respect for the city they represent, they should be as outraged as we are. They should publicly indicate where they stand and reject the position taken by Geoffrey Palmer.” ’ Mrs Murray said most of the cuts in the Canterbury area would come from Christchurch, where the city’s force would be reduced from 484 to about 450. “How can the Minister justify a lowering in numbers when the police are more than stretched in coping with the significant rate of crime in Christchurch?”

Mrs Murray said that if economies had to be made, they could come from other areas. “I’m thinking in particular of the massive amount of money being spent in legal aid.” The television advertising campaign for community constables should be scrapped and any police promotions “in the pipeline” should be stopped, until the issue of police cuts was resolved. Mrs Murray said the Government’s proposed serious fraud unit wbuld only double up on what the police could do more efficiently, and that the unit would cost millions of dollars to establish. She criticised the timing of the announcement of police staff cuts. “Just when the police are appealing to the public for help in the television programme "Crimewatch,” the Government is intent on reducing their effectiveness by making it more difficult for the police to perform their task in the community.”