Inside the controversy over Police recruitment as deadline for new officers nears - The Front Page

There are concerns that New Zealand’s police recruitment process isn’t up to scratch, as the deadline for 500 extra frontline officers looms.

The Government has promised the cops on the beat by the end of November and $191 million over four years, dubbing it a “priority”.

NZ Herald senior investigative reporter Michael Morrah told The Front Page he was alerted to rumblings of discontent within the organisation about the process in April.

“Essentially, there had been instances where applicants seeking to start at the police college were being given exemptions or having discretionary decisions based on their applications.

“It was alleged at the time that it was allowing people who had not passed the fitness tests into the college, and that was of interest because police have always said, even with the new 500 police officer target that the Government introduced, that standards would not drop. The standards to become a police officer in New Zealand are still very rigorous and robust,” he said.

In this episode of The Front Page:

Listen to the full episode to hear more about the police recruitment process.

The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.

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