Police Commissioner: 500 new officers likely delayed to mid-2026

Police Commissioner Richard Chambers has suggested that the target of bolstering New Zealand’s police force with 500 extra officers by the end of November is unlikely.

Speaking on TVNZ’s Q+A, Chambers told host Jack Tame that the initial date was an “ambitious goal” and that his staff were working to get “as close to that” as they can.

“The reality is, in a market that is a bit tight at times – and we have some recruit processes that I think could be sharpened up in terms of their efficiency, it’s going to take a bit longer,” Chambers said.

Tame pushed Chambers harder for a firm date in a studio interview that was recorded last week. Chambers reiterated that he was “absolutely focused” on the “end of November this year”, before offering an alternative scenario.

“It’s more likely to be [the] early part of 2026,” Chambers said.

When challenged further on a realistic date, Chambers stumbled in his response, with “early part of 2026” becoming mid-year.

“I would love to think that in the early part of [the] months of June ... ah ... in 2026. June has been said as a possible date. Could be June, I would like it to be a lot sooner than that,” Chambers said.

Speaking to news media in Rotorua this morning, Police Minister Mark Mitchell said the likely delay was not a failure by the Government.

“It’s not a failure because the Government is committed to delivering 500 police officers and that is what we’ll do,” Mitchell said.

He said one reason for the delays was the increase in police recruit training time.

“The first thing that I was asked as incoming minister is that the police wanted to return to a 20-week training course and away from the 16-week training course. That is so that we had better-trained police officers when they actually deployed.

“When we made that change, we knew that it was going to be tougher to deliver on our 500 police officers by November 25th.”

Chambers also spoke to the need to maintain standards for new police officers, putting a priority on quality over quantity.

“I will not be compromising standards. I am not prepared to lower standards to allow people into the police and then have to deal with other issues because they’re not up to it. Simple as that,” he said.

Chambers also spoke about a new police campus in Albany that was announced last week – with the first wing to begin training on June 30.

“I’m confident that this will be the first of many recruit wings. What I’m particularly proud of is that, for many families, the reality of going to Porirua training college for 20 weeks is too much.

“Having a facility here in Auckland, our biggest city, I know opens the door for those that want a career in policing.”

Chambers also said a significant number of former police officers were eyeing up a return.

“Right now, we have over 130 former New Zealand police staff wanting to come back to New Zealand. Some of these are people who have elected to go offshore, they want to come back,” he said.

The police recruitment drive was first announced in May 2024 by Associate Police Minister Casey Costello.

“We are serious about restoring law and order and that starts with having more police on the beat to deter crime and catch offenders,” Costello said at the time.

The Herald reported in February that Costello was “even more confident” the Government would hit its target of 500 extra officers on time, even though police numbers had fallen since it was set and she had only nine months left to achieve the goal.

Labour’s former Minister of Police - Ginny Andersen told the Herald that a delay is a government failure.

“They promised New Zealanders they would deliver 500 more police in November of this year. Mark Mitchell needs to come clean and admit that he has failed in delivering this,” said Andersen.

Andersen says the recruitment policy has placed “unfair pressure” on the Police College.

“It seems like their standards are being dragged into the political arena and that’s not fair on police.” said Andersen.