500 extra police: Minister ‘even more confident’ in hitting target despite fewer officers

Associate Police Minister Casey Costello is standing by the November deadline. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Associate Police Minister Casey Costello says she is “even more confident” the Government will hit its target of 500 extra officers in two years, even though police numbers have fallen since it was set and she only has nine months left to achieve the goal.

It comes after last year’s warning from new Police Commissioner Richard Chambers that he was open to missing the November 27 deadline if it meant ensuring new officers were trained appropriately.

One of the coalition Government’s primary law and order policies was to train 500 new officers in two years, an item agreed between National and New Zealand First.

While there had been much debate on whether the target included police vacancies, the policy promised to facilitate an increase to the police’s overall constabulary staff from 10,211 to 10,711 by November 27 this year – two years after the coalition agreements were signed.

Costello, also a NZ First MP, today explained the number of constabulary staff had actually dropped due to attrition to about 10,191.

Police Commissioner Richard Chambers last year told MPs quality had to be prioritised. Photo / Mark Mitchell

She explained it was “unfortunate” training wings weren’t progressed in December and January, while there was also an insufficient recruitment pipeline.

“That’s fully recovered now and we’ve had twice the number of applications in the last year than we did the year before,” she said.

Costello claimed she was “even more confident” the target would be achieved, citing the 311 people in police college and the estimated 650 people expected to complete the 20-week training programme before the November deadline.

The deadline for the policy had been a long-running tension point for the Government. Soon after the coalition was formed, Police Minister Mark Mitchell referenced the 500 target being achieved in three years, given the challenges police had with recruitment.

It’s understood NZ First intervened and held discussions with National before the two-year deadline was re-established.

In December, Chambers and Deputy Commissioner Chris de Wattignar indicated it was more likely the 500-target would be reached by mid-2026.

Answering questions from Labour police spokeswoman Ginny Andersen during a select committee, de Wattignar said training numbers would be enhanced in April this year, when police began 100-person training wings.

While he acknowledged the police enjoyed a challenge, de Wattignar described the 2025 deadline as “very ambitious” and accepted it was a “more accurate picture of the target” to say it would be achieved by June, 2026.

Chambers reinforced his deputy’s position by saying the police would not compromise the quality of the officers they trained and would take longer if necessary.

“We’re going to work very, very hard to do our best,” Chambers said of hitting the target in two years.

“We are not going to compromise, so if it takes us a little bit of time to produce the best-quality officers ... then we’ll take that.”

Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the NZ Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.