Police Commissioner Richard Chambers says he would prefer not to see officers routinely armed in New Zealand. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Police Commissioner Richard Chambers has outlined his priorities and stance on mental health callouts, organised crime and meeting the government's "aspirational" recruitment targets.
Here's what he told Kathryn Ryan on RNZ on Friday morning.
Police playing catch up on recruitment
Police are currently 477 officers short of meeting the government's target off 500 new front-line officers by the deadline in November.
Chambers told Nine to Noon more than 320 recruits were set to graduate from Police College this year and a new training facility - planned to open in Auckland - would further bolster numbers.
He said police who left New Zealand to work in Australian jurisdictions could also be beginning to rethink their move.
Chambers, who was appointed to the top job in late November last year, said he recently appealed to officers during a visit to Queensland, to contact him directly if they wanted to come home.
"Since I left I've had five of them contact me. They are missing the camaraderie, the culture, the tools that we have have to do our job - that's what they've told me and I've spoken to every one of them," Chambers said.
Rolling back police role in mental health callouts will "put pressure" on health services
From Monday police would further wind back their response involving those with a mental illness, part of a year-long staged approach that would result in police spending much less time on mental health calls.
Chambers said the rollback was being limited to four districts, Waitematā, Waikato, Counties and Tasman.
He said once officers had brought people to a mental health facility, and determined there was no immediate danger, they would depart.
"The decisions that we're making with health is going to put pressure on health to make decisions about how they are going to resource and deal with mental health.
"But I can't continue to have my staff for hours on end being with people who actually don't need a police intervention - it's a health intervention," Chambers said.
Advisory group says country 'losing the fight' against organised crime
A Ministerial Advisory Group reporting on transnational and organised crime said the country was "losing the fight" against organised crime.
The report cited ESR waste water analysis that showed consumption of methamphetamine had more than doubled - growing from 15 kilograms per week in the March 2019 quarter to 36kg consumed every week, in the December 2024 quarter.
Chambers said staff dealt with the impact of methamphetamine use "every day and every night" and police needed to look at ways of combating the drug's importation into the country as well as addressing the growing market in New Zealand.
"It is a very lucrative market. That's why New Zealand is an attractive place for organised criminals to try and target, and that's why we work so hard to try and keep them out.
"It's not just about protecting New Zealand. It's about protecting our neighbours and working closely with Australia and the Pacific to ensure that collectively we're addressing the supply chains that come out of South America and South East Asia.
"That's where a lot of our work must continue to focus. Working with Interpol and other law enforcement agencies is absolutely fundamental to ensure product does not get to our country," Chambers said.
He said curtailing the demand for the drug was as important as combating importation.
"When addiction is very real in so many communities across New Zealand there's always going to be an opportunity for organised criminals to exploit that," he said.
Operation Notice in Kawerau was an example of "outstanding work" to combat addiction in communities, he said.
"When we held gang members accountable for the supply of methamphetamine we put as much effort into addressing the demand side and ensuring that those who were using methamphetamine were referred to health and got the support they needed to break that cycle.
"Because that's where the harm caused by methamphetamine really takes hold. In communities and families."
Chambers said police currently worked alongside Customs and health and he would like to see more involvement from IRD to address the financial side of drug addiction.
"We want to work more closely with IRD to see what assets can be restrained; what assets can be forfeited - because that's actually when it hurts because that's the motivation for organised crime," Chambers said.
Commissioner open to 'discussion' on arming police
Chambers said - in his prior work with Interpol he had seen the use of "extreme violence" as a cornerstone of the tactics of organised criminal groups, but his personal preference was to avoid the necessity to routinely arm New Zealand's police.
"The reality of policing is that we do deal with a more volatile policing environment.
"I want to live in a country where we don't have general arming of police staff," Chambers said.
"That's my preference as a Kiwi but if, at some point, we need to have that discussion about whether its time to consider it then I think its an important discussion to have."
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