Police Commissioner Richard Chambers is considering increasing the number of NZ police officers stationed in the Pacific. Photo / Dean Purcell
Police Commissioner Richard Chambers is considering increasing the number of NZ police officers stationed in the Pacific. Photo / Dean Purcell
Pacific police chiefs will tomorrow decide whether to support Interpol’s bid to create a base in the region.
The secretary-general of the international police agency, Valdecy Urquiza, today spoke to police representatives from 22 Pacific Island nations about the proposal at an annual conference in Waitangi.
It comes as NewZealand Police Commissioner Richard Chambers considers increasing the number of Kiwi officers based in the Pacific, as China tries to grow its own police presence in the region.
Urquiza’s presence represented Interpol’s first attendance at the conference.
Chambers, who was seconded to Interpol before becoming commissioner, told the Herald the police chiefs would decide tomorrow on Urquiza’s proposal to establish a regional base, which Chambers supported.
“I think that’s a fantastic idea because that means if we’re able to do that, then we have a much, much stronger voice on the global stage.
“I’m looking tomorrow to get my peers to agree that’s the right thing, and we’ll be putting a case together to support what the secretary-general is talking about.”
Chambers said the base could be another of Interpol’s several regional bureaus it maintained around the world.
According to the police website, Interpol had a New Zealand bureau based in Wellington.
Last month, the FBI, a top American law enforcement agency, announced it would create an office in New Zealand.
FBI director Kash Patel announced the new office last month. Photo / US Embassy
FBI director Kash Patel cited “countering the CCP [Chinese Communist Party]” in the Pacific region as one of the “most important global issues” facing New Zealand and the United States, something China’s New Zealand embassy rejected.
Chambers said an increased Interpol presence should be embraced and claimed other police chiefs hadn’t expressed any reservations.
Greater interest in the Pacific from Interpol and the FBI aligned with growing transnational crime, particularly drug trafficking, in the region, but also growing geopolitical competition, namely between China and the US, for influence among Pacific nations.
One arm of that competition existed in policing, where China had sought to boost its police’s presence on the ground in several Pacific nations in recent years.
Chambers said he too was evaluating New Zealand’s police presence in the Pacific, indicating his preference to see it grow, noting it could be interpreted as a counter to growing geopolitical interest.
About 33 Kiwi police staff operated from other Pacific Island countries, some permanently and others on a fly-in, fly-out basis.
Chambers said he would be talking next week with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade about opportunities to increase staff numbers in the Pacific.
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters referenced a recent increase in funding. Photo / Mark Mitchell
He would also convey requests from Pacific police chiefs for more funding for resources, as well as boosting initiatives like drug detection dogs, a message Chambers endorsed.
“New Zealand Police, for many years, has invested in the Pacific with things like detector dog programmes, tactical training, basics like handcuffs, batons, and the Pacific wants more of that because they don’t have the resources that we’ve got.
“If we support them to be their best and develop, then of course, that keeps New Zealand safe and secure too.”
Chambers said funding decisions sat with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In a statement, Foreign Minister Winston Peters pointed to a recent funding boost to New Zealand’s Pacific Detection Dog Programme before referring the Herald to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Herald is awaiting comment from the ministry and Police Minister Mark Mitchell on whether they support further funding.
Adam Pearse is the deputy political editor and part of the NZ Herald’s press gallery team based at Parliament in Wellington. He has worked for NZME since 2018, reporting for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei and the Herald in Auckland.
