1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:02,520 Speaker 1: Look, maybe I'm being naive, but I'm not that stressed 2 00:00:02,520 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: at the news that three people were allowed to start 3 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:07,560 Speaker 1: Police College without passing the fitness test, will you. I mean, 4 00:00:07,920 --> 00:00:10,440 Speaker 1: it seems to me more important to just have police 5 00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:13,720 Speaker 1: officers and more police officers walking the beat and providing 6 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:17,080 Speaker 1: a reassuring presence than it is to be absolutely sure 7 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:18,880 Speaker 1: that they can do a vertical jump and run two 8 00:00:18,880 --> 00:00:21,040 Speaker 1: and a half k's and twelve odd minutes. Because I 9 00:00:21,079 --> 00:00:23,600 Speaker 1: don't know when was the last time you saw Bobby 10 00:00:23,640 --> 00:00:25,759 Speaker 1: sprinting two k's down the road and jumping over a 11 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:28,400 Speaker 1: wall to catch somebody, Right, it doesn't seem like it's 12 00:00:28,440 --> 00:00:31,360 Speaker 1: all that frequently happening in modern policing, certainly in cities. 13 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:33,839 Speaker 1: But it doesn't mean we haven't got a problem. We've 14 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:36,040 Speaker 1: got a problem here. The problem is that the government 15 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:38,160 Speaker 1: is still pretending that it can pump out five hundred 16 00:00:38,200 --> 00:00:41,320 Speaker 1: new police officers by November twenty seven. That's not going 17 00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:44,120 Speaker 1: to happen. I mean, they are trying absolutely everything to 18 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:45,960 Speaker 1: be able to meet their target. They've bumped up the 19 00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:48,320 Speaker 1: number of training spots they've got at the Police College 20 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:51,320 Speaker 1: from eighty to one hundred. They're opening a new College 21 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:54,279 Speaker 1: in Auckland sometime this year. They're now suspected of having 22 00:00:54,400 --> 00:00:58,279 Speaker 1: waived in three unfit coppers just to make up the numbers. 23 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:01,040 Speaker 1: But we know that five hundred cops by November twenty 24 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:03,520 Speaker 1: seven is not going to happen because we've had a 25 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:05,960 Speaker 1: whole bunch of evidence. Right, the numbers are not keeping 26 00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:08,000 Speaker 1: pace in order to be able to get to five hundred. 27 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:10,600 Speaker 1: The officials have warned the government in the briefing papers 28 00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:12,080 Speaker 1: it's not going to be able to do it until 29 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:15,000 Speaker 1: midway through next year. And Mark Mitchell admitted last year 30 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:16,319 Speaker 1: that they weren't going to be able to do it, 31 00:01:16,319 --> 00:01:18,399 Speaker 1: and then he got told off by Winston. So now 32 00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:21,000 Speaker 1: he's gone back. He's gone back to pretending that he 33 00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:23,480 Speaker 1: can do it, but he's using some weasel words. He 34 00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:28,120 Speaker 1: just says the number is aspirational. Well aspirational as a 35 00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:30,960 Speaker 1: politician's word. That's a clue in and of itself. Look, 36 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:32,959 Speaker 1: I think to be honest, I think the government itself 37 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:35,200 Speaker 1: just needs to be honest here. If it's not going 38 00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:38,000 Speaker 1: to make the number, surely it's better to be honest 39 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:39,680 Speaker 1: now and say you're not going to make the number 40 00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:41,479 Speaker 1: than it is to keep on pretending and then miss 41 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:44,600 Speaker 1: the target in November, which is inevitably going to happen. 42 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:47,600 Speaker 1: And surely it's worse for the police to be busted 43 00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:50,840 Speaker 1: doing this, waving three unfit people through, even if it's 44 00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:53,000 Speaker 1: fine that they do it, being busted doing it is 45 00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:54,560 Speaker 1: not a good look. And if that is what we 46 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:56,800 Speaker 1: now suspect they're doing in order to meet the five hundred, 47 00:01:56,920 --> 00:02:00,600 Speaker 1: that's a very bad look, isn't it. For more Duplessy 48 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:03,480 Speaker 1: Allen Drive, listen live to News Talks at b from 49 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:07,160 Speaker 1: four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.