Chris Cahill: Police Association President on the surging number of recruits

The Police Association says it's pleasantly surprised at the surge in new recruits. 

Recruitment numbers have soared in the past year, with five and a half thousand applications in the first eight months of the year. 

President Chris Cahill says one reason behind it is the state of the economy, and policing is seen as a place of stable employment. 

He told Heather du Plessis-Allan some rule changes for recruitment have also helped, such as only needing a full license by the time they reach police college, instead of upon applying.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Right.

Speaker 2 (00:00):
Well, despite all of the doom in the gloom, it
turns out the cops are having no trouble attracting recruits.
More than thirteen hundred applications were made in July. This
is the most on record and to keep up with
the demand, the cops are going to increase the capacity
at the training college. And with me now is the
Police Association President Chris Carhill.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
Hey, Chris, good morning Heather.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
So have we been all proven wrong with the warnings
that if we give them poor pay they're all going
to go to Australia.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Well, I think we have to say the proof is
in the pudding. Definitely. We haven't seen a big exodus,
which is a little bit surprising because the officers are good.
But I suppose the attractions of far now New Zealander
are paying off, So that's a positive. And look, you
have to say, these recruit numbers, you know, there's some
provisers I'll talk about, but again it's very positive to

(00:46):
get those sort of numbers.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
What's the what are the provisos?

Speaker 1 (00:49):
Well, I think the three reasons that we're getting this
one is clearly the state of the economy. Police are
singers with stable employment, so that's going to be an attraction.
The second is police change. A couple of rules is
that you don't have to have a full licensese when
you apply. You have to before you get to the college,
but not when you apply. And the second is you
don't have to be a New Zealand citizen anymore. You

(01:10):
have to be only a New Zealand resident. So I
think that's made a change in what seen applicants. So
the real key figure will be what's the conversion rate
of applicants to actual recruits. Currently it's about twelve percent
of applicants go on to join police. So we just
need to see that those figures at least stay the
same percentage of ice and if they do, we're certainly

(01:31):
going to get a lot of recruits.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
When do they actually drop out? Do they drop out
before they go into the college or afterwards?

Speaker 1 (01:38):
Now before they go in, So there's a lot of
people will apply and then they just don't meet a
variety of standards that are required. That's the key for
us is making sure the standards stay high. I mean,
I think one of the things I'll be interested to
see and this is a positive but has some issues
as well. As with the residency, cause I sus speak,
we're going to get a lot of people which have
English as a second language. Now that's great in some

(02:00):
ways that you're getting diversity, and they'll be a different
place of policing which will reflect what New Zealand's becoming
as well. So that's good, but it does make life
hard for them as an officer, and there needs a
lot more support around them, especially in the early stages.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
So we not have a language standard, because surely there
should be a language standard. I mean, if you've got
somebody taking down notes about what's happening and quoting you back,
there's some nuance in the language that's really important, isn't that?

Speaker 1 (02:26):
Yeah? No, and there's certainly is the language standard. But
I mean it's just the fact that life when it's
your second language, it presents more challenges and as I say,
that can be positive, but it doesn't mean there needs
to be more support around them, especially when it's how
you know, the comprehension of what someone might say and
what they mean can be different, and it's just making
sure that those nuances are worked through. As it's not

(02:48):
a bad thing, it just means there needs to be
plenty of supporter around those officers that apply. But look,
we can't get away from those sort of figures. They're
quite startling figures and as I say, we need to
see that conclusion right.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
But it's positive, Chris, good to talk to you. Thank
you very much. Make really appreciate this, as Chris Carhill
of the Police Association. For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast,
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