Penny-pinching by Wellington police will force key staff, including on-call detectives and the officer in charge of the armed offenders squad, to use taxis because they will not have after-hours access to vehicles.
As a budget blowout forces police to slash spending, the district will also make do with at least
50 fewer police this year.
Station leases have not been renewed in the suburbs of Newtown and Island Bay, and a police launch on loan from Auckland will be returned early because Wellington police say they cannot afford it.
Long-serving police staff say the situation has deteriorated dramatically. "It really is a crisis," a senior police source said.
Nationally, the police budget has blown out and management is struggling to fund a wage round.
Wellington district commander Superintendent John Kelly said he was funded for 748 police officers and 130.5 civilian staff. At the start of this month, the district had 743.5 officers and 117 civilians working for it.
The number of sworn staff was expected to fall to 712.5 in the next five months and non-sworn should remain static.
The best possible scenario, taking into account graduates from the first 2001 police college wing late this year, was 52 officers down by October. Without the rookies, it could fall below 60.
Meanwhile, police in Ngaruawahia have denied claims that they are too cash-strapped to buy toilet paper.
Police sources had said Ngaruawahia staff were told they could not buy more toilet paper when they ran out.
But stores officer Lindsay Cowan said the station did run out of toilet paper at one stage, but no one had ever been told they could not buy any more.
- NZPA
