E-bail crisis again highlights Policing pressure

National’s increased pressure on front-line policing has reached boiling point, with an admission from Police top brass that they will struggle to monitor people on electronic bail this year, Labour’s Police spokesperson Kris Faafoi said today.

“Police Minister, Anne Tolley keeps claiming that our front-line Police have not been affected by budget cuts. But when Police bosses ask the judiciary to limit the number of people on electronic bail it’s fair to say resources are stretched.

“This is further proof that Police are being asked to do much more with much less.

“The last thing New Zealand needs is a repeat performance of National’s 1990’s strategy which saw Police resources and staffing deteriorate to a state where public confidence in the force plummeted.

“Burdening Police with impossible pressure diminishes their ability to prevent and respond to crime.

“Crafty cuts have no place in our Police budget,” Kris Faafoi said.