ACT MP Chris Baillie sparked confusion in Parliament this week when he highlighted how the Police Minister's new cop figures differ from the Police Association's.
Police Minister Poto Williams earlier this month said the Government had "put 1400 extra cops on the beat" while the Police Association's latest April update shows 1273 new police officers.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern caused even more confusion with her statement on AM last month that the Government had "promised and delivered" 1800 new police officers.
"It's a simple question: how many police officers has the Government delivered?" asked Baillie. "While ministers squabble about the numbers, crime on our streets has exploded."
The discrepancies can be explained.
In 2017, the new Labour-NZ First Government made a commitment to add 1800 new police officers to the frontline. This was achieved in 2019. But that did not take into account attrition, the departure of employees, so the Government "shifted the goal posts" in 2019.
To gain a net 1800 new cops, the Government needed to graduate thousands of police. The Government last month graduated its 3000th police officer since 2017 and is on track to reach a net gain of 1800 officers on the beat by around June 2023.
But how we're tracking towards that 1800 net figure is calculated differently by the Police Association and the Police Minister.
"We've always kept track going back to 1 July 2017 because that is when National first announced an increase of 800 police officers and that's extra - so be very careful, that's a net increase," Police Association president Chris Cahill told Newshub.
"When the Government talks about having achieved 1800 new, technically that's correct, but it's a figure that doesn't mean anything - 1800 new was never an issue, it was 1800 extra that were needed.
"We always knew that to get 1800 extra you'd need to recruit in the vicinity of 3000 new recruits to allow for attrition because that was running at the time around 400 to 500 a year."
So, why are their numbers different?
"We looked at the exact police numbers from 1 July 2017 but we also included approximately 70 vacancies at that time," Cahill explained.
"From our view, to get a real increase, you need to fill your vacancies and then add the 1800 on top of that. The minister doesn't normally.
"But also, we don't count recruits in training. We only count them once they graduate because if they haven't graduated, they're not on the street and not available, whereas the minister often includes recruits as well. That's why our figures can differ a bit.
"In fairness to the minister, she's very consistent. When she talks numbers, she talks about the extra - 1400. She's clear it's the extra."
It's the Prime Minister's proclamation that the Government "promised and delivered" 1800 new police officers that causes confusion, Cahill said.
"It tends to be other ministers and often the Prime Minister that start talking about the 1800 new police. The minister doesn't normally go there. She understands it's extra."
