Police reaction decried

Press, 22 June 1989, Page 1

Police reaction decried

By

PETER LUKE

in Wellington

The police’s last wage rise of 5 per cent had contributed to the need to cut 267 staff, suggested the Acting Minister of Police, Mr Jeffries, yesterday, as he slated the “scaremongering” of the Police Association.

Mr Jeffries convened a press conference yesterday to deflect association criticism and allay public concern at wjiat he said amounted to “marginal, peripheral changes in management,” in an organisation of 6000 staff. The rift between the Government and the association then widened, as the association’s president, Mr Keith Morrow, accused Mr Jeffries of indulging in red herrings and untrue claims.

Faced with mounting criticism from community leaders at the staff cuts, Mr Jeffries stated the Government commitment to provide sufficient resources for public safety.

“That is a first responsibility on any Government and this Government has met it.” Mr Jeffries criticised the association for its “scaremongering” which he said had heightened public fears about the staff cuts.

He suggested that one reason for the cuts was that police received a 5 per cent pay rise, compared with the rest of the public service which made do with about two per cent. “They must confront the issue about what they do with pay increases that are higher than the rest of the community’s.” The pay increase, arrived at through arbitration, was made in the knowledge that all Government departments had to absorb wage rises and the increase in GST.

“The police administration has itself decided to absorb its $5 million pay increase by these means,” said Mr Jeffries. He rejected claims that the

police were being punished for the pay rise, but added that the Government would not keep underwriting police demands because rejecting them might be politically difficult.

“They have been challenged as other Government departments were to husband and manage more efficiently the almost half billion dollars of taxpayers’ funds that are allocated to them.” But Mr Jeffries’ criticism also extended to the Commissioner of Police, Mr John Jamieson. “I regretted that the Police Commissioner said to the public of this country last night that somehow the standard of enforcement would be curtailed.” Mr Jeffries said budgetary savings should not affect .front-line policing, arguing that the Ministry of Transport, his own department, had absorbed cuts of the same proportion but had lost no traffic officers. Mr Morrow seized on Mr Jamieson’s view as he answered

the Minister’s accusation of scaremongering. "Mr Jamieson has also been warning that the public should lower their expectations of police performance. Is Mr Jamieson scaremongering too?” asked Mr Morrow.

He described the police pay rise as a red herring, and charged as untrue Mr Jeffries’s claim that many of the 267 jobs to be cut would be those of civilian workers. “The truth is that less than one-fifth of the job losses will be in the civilian area.”

A staff analysis released by the police on Tuesday suggested that there would be a net loss of 52 “un-sworn” staff, out of the total of 267 losses.

Mr Jeffries also defended the Government’s role in police funding, pointing to a 21 per cent increase last financial year.

Since 1984 police staff numbers had risen from 5776 to 6210.

Tapsell concerned, page 6