Police double recruitment spending under new boss ‒ is it working?

Wednesday, 21 January 2026

New Zealand’s police service has spent millions selling the job. The question is whether anyone’s buying.

When the Government announced a target of 500 additional police officers, the problem it was trying to solve was clear: fewer recruits, rising attrition rates, and a frontline stretched thin.

The Post can now reveal the price police have been willing to pay to reverse that slide.

According to an Official Information Act response, police spent just over $1 million on recruitment marketing in the year from December 2023 to November 2024.

But in the 12 months after Richard Chambers took over as Police Commissioner that figure surged to $2.76 million - more than double the previous year’s total.

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The escalation in spending reflects both a deliberate shift in strategy under Chambers, who says recruitment efforts lacked “focus” before he took office, as well as new Government funding to support its target of 500 additional frontline officers.

“Marketing and advertising is an essential part of that effort and police ran several successful campaigns over the past two years, and in 2025 in particular,” Chambers said.

Advertising and attraction campaigns were ramped up, the recruitment pipeline streamlined and former officers actively courted to return.

Among the renewed recruitment efforts were Auckland Transport buses wrapped in police livery and tongue-in-cheek videos featuring the commissioner himself on a newly launched Facebook page.

But has the boost in funding actually been worth it? According to Chambers, “The results from 2025 speak for themselves.”

Graduate numbers jumped to 788 in 2025, up from 563 the year before. Constabulary numbers rose by 302 full-time equivalent officers — a marked improvement on the increase of just 44 in 2024 — while attrition edged down from 5.9% to 4.9%.

The return of 100 former officers last year - the highest number on record - marked a significant boost too.

“Experienced officers are worth their weight in gold,” Chambers said. “They’ve brought back years of institutional knowledge, strengthened our capability, and filled critical skills gaps for specialist roles across the country.”

He added he remained “confident” the 500-officer target would be met “without compromising on standards or the quality of trainings for recruits”.

Police Association president Steve Watt was less convinced the millions spent represented value for money, however.

“Every organisation advertises, and it’s important,” Watt said. “But has this proved bang for buck? Looking at the numbers, no. The nature of the job and the wage are still the core issues.”

Poor pay, short staffing, morale and working conditions continued to weigh on the frontline, according to the latest Police Association magazine.

While marketing could raise awareness, Watt said it couldn’t make policing more competitive than other careers - particularly when overseas jurisdictions offered significantly higher salaries.

“There’s only so far you can sell the role if people look at the reality and decide it’s not worth it,” he said.

A North Island detective added that while the recent lift in numbers was welcome, the impact had yet to be felt in many stations.

“More staff is always the biggest issue,” he said. “More boots on the ground makes everything easier downstream. But there are still places around the country where the shortages are obvious.”

In real terms, at the time the Government announced their target of 500 extra officers, there were 10,221 constabulary staff. As of January 12, there were 10,443, marking a net gain of 222 officers.

Every year, police are allocated funding for recruitment marketing. When the Government announced 500 additional officers in November 2023, it was already part-way through the financial year.

Additional money was announced in Budget 2024, effective from July 2024, to bolster those efforts.