Richard Chambers: Police Commissioner on violent crime decrease, targets being met and more police officers in the force

The Police Commissioner's putting a focus on the basics down as a key contributor to a fall in violent crime.

The New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey reveals most violent crimes have been dropping in the past two years, while sexual assault cases increased.

There's been a 113 percent increase in Police beat patrols over the last year.

Richard Chambers says he's been clear he wants his staff to do the basics well.

He says it means getting officers out into the community, but beat patrols are only one aspect and his team is doing an incredible job.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Look a lot better crime wise, as the latest stats
revealed the government well ahead of its target on crime reduction.
There are twenty nine thousand, twenty nine thousand fewer victims
of violent crime than when the government came to power.
Another goal by twenty twenty nine was to reduce it
by twenty thousand. So they're rolling. Richard Chambers, Police Commissioner
back with us. Very good morning to you.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Good morning, Mike.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
So numbers don't lie. This is a material drop.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
You've got to be pleased, very very pleased, Mike. I'm
stoked also for my staff across the country because I
know just how hard they're working, and you know, all
centers across the country, and I think these results reflect that.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
What do you reckon? It is because an Auckland, Wellington,
christ you to beat patrols are up one hundred and
thirteen percent, which is a lot. Is it that or
is it other things or all of it?

Speaker 2 (00:45):
Look, I think it's everything, Mike. I mean when I
came in as a commissioner, I was very clear about
wanting to ensure that my staff did the basics well
and that's about getting the mountain to the community, walking
the beat. The stats show just how hard they're working
to be visible across so you know, beat teams is
one aspect of that. But actually, all my staff across
the country are doing an incredible job. They know how

(01:06):
important it is to do the basics well good.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
The serious violent crime part of it, when you're looking
at statistics, is that the low hanging fruit or not?
Is that the easy stuff to fix?

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Oh, Pola, thing is not easy, Mike. We deal with many,
many complex situations and there are a whole lot of
contributors to you know, those fantastic results. So I'm not
sure i'd call it low hanging fruit at all. I mean,
every day and every night we go out there, we
deal with really really tough things. My staff do remarkable
work out there day and night, and yeah, the situations

(01:39):
that they deal with are challenging, so I wouldn't call
it low hanging fruit. You know, we will continue to
work very very hard whatever confronts us.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
The reason I asked the question is they do seem
extremely good results. Is there more where that came from?
Or another? Is this going to tail off? In other words,
the battle ahead is harder.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Well, if I think about retail crime as one example,
you know that has been increasing considerably. We know that
over recent years that that's really started to come down significantly.
It's still increasing, but it's increasing at a much slower
rate now. Same with ram raids. You know this. So
far this year we've had fifty five RAM raids compared
to three hundred and eight at the same time in

(02:21):
twenty twenty three. So look, there's a whole lot of
things that we've got to think about in policing. We've
got to balance our resources. But I know how hard
the front line's working, and you know they have my
support to keep working real hard, keep up the good work.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
Appreciated it. Richard Chambers, the Police Commissioner with us. For
more from the mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to news
talks that'd be from six am weekdays, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio.