Police Minister Stuart Nash is now rejecting his earlier idea of actively recruiting police from overseas, following concerns from Cabinet colleague Nanaia Mahuta about whether foreign police would interact well with Maori.
Nash denies he is backing down, having yesterday floated the idea as part of a drive to hire 1800 new police officers in the next three years - a commitment made in the coalition agreement between Labour and New Zealand First.
"I'll talk to the Minister of Immigration and say, 'Look, if we do a recruitment programme overseas, and we get sworn officers coming in from a number of countries, can we look to fast-track visas for these men and women?'" he told Radio NZ's Morning Report yesterday.
The comments were not welcomed by the Police Association, which said that overseas recruitment was a "short-term" solution.
Maori community leaders also raised concerns about how overseas officers would interact with Maori, prompting Maori Development Minister Nanaia Mahuta to seek assurances from Nash.
Today Nash told the Herald there would be no such recruitment programme, saying New Zealanders were the "absolute preference", especially under-represented groups such as Maori, Pasifika, Asians and women.
Asked if he had backed down, Nash said: "It's a clarification ... Nanaia and I have spoken, and I have assured her that this isn't about heading overseas to find officers. But if overseas officers want to come to New Zealand and they meet the entry criteria and police requirements, then we'll be happy to welcome them.
"But there's not going to be an overseas recruitment programme that will end up excluding New Zealanders in favour of foreigners. I should have been clearer."
He said he would still have a chat to Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway about the possibility of fast-tracking visas.
"Keep in mind, we're not looking at just 1800 extra officers. We train 400 to 450 a year anyway, just to replace churn - so it's on top of that. We're going to need to train around 3000 new officers over the next three years."
Nash said he expected about 1500 of the extra officers to be sworn officers, and 300 to be authorised officers with specialised skills to tackle, for example, cyber crime. They would boost community policing and the organised crime squad, which would "go incredibly hard" on the "methamphetamine epidemic up and down the country".
"We've got the money. This is not some pie-in-the-sky dream I have that's unachievable."
He did not want to comment on how much extra funding police would need, but Labour campaigned on 1000 extra officers at a cost of $180 million a year, and he said the 1800 extra officers would cost "significantly more" than that.