Mark Mitchell: Police Minister on the new reports indicating a drop in violent crime

The Police Minister is rejecting claims the last Government can be thanked for reduced victim numbers.

The Government claims there are 28,000 fewer victims of violent crimes since the last election - exceeding its goal of 20,000.

It admits the numbers are from a survey spanning 24 months - including the last months of the Labour's rule. 

But Minister Mark Mitchell says Labour only made it worse.

"We've definitely seen the numbers - and the police numbers starting to reduce. We've got a very different approach around public safety, we're putting victims first and I think we're staring to see the results of that."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Afternoon. While the government has already had its target of
reducing victims of violent crime, it wanted that number to
drop by twenty thousand people. It's now dropped by twenty
eight thousand people. And I wanted to drop the number
by twenty twenty nine, twenty twenty nine, it's already there.
Mark Mitchell is the Police Minister and with us now
haymrich Hi Heather, what do you reckon cause the number
to drop off so in such a big way.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
I just think that obviously, as the incoming government, we
had a big focus on public safety, which meant that
we stopped releasing people from prison. The previous government had
a target of around twenty percent, which they achieved. At
the same time we had an over thirty percent increase
in violent crime. We've gone the other way. Plus you've
had obviously some very good legislation come through, a gang legislation.
But fundamentally, I think that for me, I'm very proud

(00:45):
of the work that both the police and corrections have
done as my agencies, but this is a whole of
society response. Local government have being really good to work with.
You've got cpn Z, you've got our Mary Wardens you've
got community groups that are all sort of working to
tackle the problem. The police can't do it on their own,
and although we've got a long way to go, this
is a really good early start.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
How much of this, though, can you actually claim credit
for given that some of this falls, in fact, most
of us falls within Labour's period.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
Well, yeah, it's funny you say that. When the first
survey came out three months into government and there'd been
a massive increase, we were blamed for that, and now
sixteen months in when we see a decrease Labored some
people are trying to give Labor the credit. I completely
reject that. We've seen We've definitely seen the numbers and
the police numbers starting to reduce. We've got a very

(01:36):
different approach around public safety. We're putting victims first, and
I think we're starting to see the results of that.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
I noticed, though, there's a warning there that these numbers
are going to be volatile, which feels a little bit
like you guys are hedging your bets and possibly preparing
for it to go up again. Is that right?

Speaker 2 (01:51):
Well, that's the nature of this, is it? For as
long as people have been committing crime? Is that you'll
get peaks and troths. What we want to we're aiming
for as a long term trend downwards and that's what
we've focused on and that's what we want to deliver
for the country.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
Good stuff, Keep it up, Thank you very much, Mike Mitchell,
the Police Minister. For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive,
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