Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Steve Watt: Police Association President on Richard Chambers setting 2026 policing targets

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Steve Watt: Police Association President on Richard Chambers setting 2026 policing targets · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

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  Speaker 1: Police Commissioner Richard Chambers set out new twenty twenty six targets.
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  Speaker 1: This is to lift public trust in police. He wants
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  Speaker 1: eighty percent confidence in the force, eighty percent satisfaction and
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  Speaker 1: how they deal with the public, and a fifteen percent
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  Speaker 1: drop in public violence and retail crime. Steve, what is
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  Speaker 1: Police Association President with me this morning? Steve?
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, Maudena, Thanks for having me, But so a
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  Speaker 2: bit of.
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  Speaker 1: A jump that's needed. Sixty nine percent currently trust and
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  Speaker 1: confidence in police? Can you do that?
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  Speaker 2: Do you Reckon? Oh? Look, we absolutely can. And it's
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  Speaker 2: good to have goals and set challenges. I mean, who
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  Speaker 2: wouldn't want to achieve eighty percent of New Zealanders having
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  Speaker 2: trust and confidence in the police. It's something that we
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  Speaker 2: all strive for. What we need to know is sort
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  Speaker 2: of the detail behind that. Our members want to know.
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  Speaker 2: How are we going to get there? What's the details
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  Speaker 2: that's what's lacking at the moment.
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  Speaker 1: Must be a bit frustrating for frontline because it's actually
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  Speaker 1: top brasss that's been doing more damage than they have.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's important to note that our members are doing
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  Speaker 2: it pretty tough there at the moment. They're facing ridicule
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  Speaker 2: from the public as a result of what's happened out
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  Speaker 2: of the mixicim in case, and that's really tough on
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  Speaker 2: the membership. So you know, a focus has to be
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  Speaker 2: on them and building that trust, and focus on building
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  Speaker 2: the relationships between the executive and the constaborary employees. If
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  Speaker 2: we're going to have any chance of having these targets, what.
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  Speaker 1: Sort of ridicule are they getting.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, look, there's taunts out there from the public. There's
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  Speaker 2: all sorts, really, but you know that is from a
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  Speaker 2: limited few of the public. But our members are seeing it.
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  Speaker 2: They are facing it. You know, we've got front facing front,
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  Speaker 2: counter staff, one O five staff, ow can Stabburary out
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  Speaker 2: there on the beat. They're all suffering a bit of
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  Speaker 2: taunting and a bit of a bit of jib as
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  Speaker 2: a result of this.
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  Speaker 1: It sucks. There's always going to be a portion of
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  Speaker 1: society who will never trust police no matter what you do.
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  Speaker 2: Right there is that to consider, and you know, not
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  Speaker 2: everyone's happy with us and what we do, but ultimately
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  Speaker 2: it's about getting out there, you getting into those crimes,
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  Speaker 2: you stopping those burglaries. That's where we build the trust
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  Speaker 2: and confidence, and that's where the vast majority of New
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  Speaker 2: Zealanders see policing and that's where they build that trust
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  Speaker 2: and confidence from seeing what our members are doing out
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  Speaker 2: there every day.
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  Speaker 1: Part of the problem I think for police as being
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  Speaker 1: actually the justice system. So you guys have been holding
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  Speaker 1: up your endo the bargain and then they go through
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  Speaker 1: the justice system and it's a wet bus ticket. Is
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  Speaker 1: that something that frontline offices actually find annoying?
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  Speaker 2: Look, it is tough. We are seeing more people heading
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  Speaker 2: to prison, more people heading to jail. We are seeing
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  Speaker 2: some sentences that are that are appropriate and good, but
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  Speaker 2: there's still some work to do there in the judicial
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  Speaker 2: system just to make sure that the effort that our
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  Speaker 2: members are putting in is reflecting these sentences that are
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  Speaker 2: being handed out.
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  Speaker 1: Appreciate your time this morning, Steve Steve Watt, Police Association President,
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: on those new targets that chambers are set for. More
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: from Early edition with Ryan Bridge. Listen live to News
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Talk Set B from five am weekdays, or follow the
• 3:11
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