Richard Chambers: Police Commissioner says quality over quantity for NZ Police

Latest figures show at least 144 kiwi Police left for Australia in the past year, but Police Commissioner Richard Chambers is not concerned. 

He told Mike Hosking that we have 'some of the best police officers in the world' and therefore it's no surprise other countries try to poach from us. 

Chambers also maintains that our Police numbers are in a good place.

"I mean, there's a tremendous amount to be proud of is that we've got nearly 10,500 police officers now. We've never had that many, in this country before," he said. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Eld police scarping to Australia story back this morning. Latest
figure shore at least one hundred and forty four left
for Australia in the past year one and three resignations
apparently linked to moves across the ditch. Pay seems a
major factor. Richard Chambers as the Police Commissioner and is
back with us richer morning.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Good morning, night.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Why or how have you guys become the poster child
for a brain drain that's affected I'm assuming just about
every occupation in the country. What's so fascinating about cops?
Not that you're not important, I just wonder why we're
so fixated with it.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Well, it's a very good question, Mike aman Kiwis are
great people, right, Our reputation globally whatever we do is
outstanding and police are no different. So it's no surprise
that other law enforcement agencies come to our country to
look for some of the best police officers in the world.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Frankly, and is this number any better or worse or different?
Or is this just the way it is?

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Oh, look at just the way it is. I mean,
there is a tremendous amount to be proud of. Is
that we've got nearly ten and a half thousand police officers.
Now we've never had that many in this country before.
That's about turner in seventy more than November twenty two,
t three. And our attrition rate right now is four
point six percent, which is one of the last it's
ever been. And just to compare, you know, let's take
the Northern Territory Police. They have fifteen hundred staff total,

(01:12):
so they've got a goal to recruit two hundred more
over four years. Their attrition rate is sitting at around
eight to nine percent. So my point is, actually they
keep coming and taking some of our best police officers,
but I think they've got a few issues they probably
need to look at locally because that's a very high
number of their own staff leaving, so maybe they won't

(01:33):
have to focus on that too.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
Indeed, what about our counter campaign, the one that we
go out and recruit, is that still successful or not.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah, we've had sixteen police officers come home from Australia.
We've got more currently going through the process to also
want to come home. It costs US about forty thousand
dollars to put one recruit through the Police college, so
you know, Franklly, anybody who wants to come home and
rejoin New Zone police very welcome and I'm happy to
help with that.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
Is you could match it. If somebody came to you
and said I'm off to Australia for whatever the paying
in Australia and said, don't worry, we'll match it. Would
that solve the problem or do some people just march
to their own beat.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
Oh look, look, going offshore and experiencing policing elsewhere in
the world is always going to add value. I've done
it myself when I was withint pol and I think
you get to appreciate what policing can be like in
other parts of the world and actually puts it all
in perspective. We are incredibly lucky to be key weas
were very lucky to be police officers in this country.
So I've got no issue with some wanting to go
offshore and experience it elsewhere, because you know they come

(02:33):
home and frankly, they probably come home better realizing actually
that what needs in on police days is pretty much
world leading in the way we police and what we
have to do our job.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
Is part of the problem that you've been hoisted a
bit by the five hundred promise, mark mate, and so
therefore that that is what really gets the attention.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
Oh look, I mean I don't get into that. I
said very early on in my tenure Mike that what
mattered was quality. I was not prepared and I'm not
prepared to drop standards to make sure that we hit
that number. I want quality police officers because I know
that that's what Key we want, Key we want too.
So yeah, I've set very clear standards and expectations, and
if we select the wrong people to be police officers

(03:11):
in our country, we spend many more years trying to
fix things. So we're on track later this year to
hit that five hundred. But we'll have five hundred outstanding
cops and we've also had about one hundred rejoin since
January last year have left police and done other things
in New Zealand. Some of those have come back from Australia,
but you know that's gone and tried a few things
outside policing. So I think that says a lot about

(03:33):
who we are as an organization and what it means
to be a police officer in New Zealand.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
Who has talked to you, Richard Chambers, who's the police commissioner.
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