National’s police cuts risk community safety

Real cuts to Police funding will leave our communities more vulnerable to crime, the Green Party said today.

Budget 2015 sees further long-term cuts to police spending. Police spending peaked in 2010 and has been falling since, down 5.7 percent to 2015 and 11.5 percent out to 2018 in real terms. New spending of $164 million spread over four years is not keeping up with rising costs.

“Police Budget cuts means we’ll lose more community constables and see less of the valuable crime prevention work they do,” said Green Party police spokesperson David Clendon.

“The Police’s ability to respond to property crimes like home burglaries and car thefts will become virtually invisible.

“Police have been good at generating savings through efficiencies to date, but further budget cuts are now affecting core Police services and morale.

“Crimes will go unreported if people believe the Police will not respond to them in a timely way.

“National are making our communities less safe with their real and long-term cuts to core Police services.”

Parliamentary Library Police spending figures out to 2018:

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