Police training freeze puts recruits on hold

KIRSTY JOHNSTON

Police spent more than $1million on advertising for new recruits, only to put successful applicants on a long waiting list and defer a training intake.

The government says the deferral of the January wing at Porirua's police college was due to a full-capacity force but Labour argues it was a cost-cutting measure and there is more penny-pinching to come.

Figures released under the Official Information Act show $1.14m was spent on recruitment marketing in the 2010-11 financial year and $1.2m was spent the previous year. The recruitment marketing budget for this year has been cut by a third, to $887,000.

Last year, police advertising attracted more than 10,000 potential recruits to physical or web seminars. Those who made the cut were placed in a "candidate pool" to await entry into the college. Asof November, the pool had 230 members. The first 2012 intake would now be in February.

Police Association president Greg O'Connor said there was no point "overselling" on advertising if there wasn't room for recruits.

Changing intake dates or having long wait lists was making it difficult for those wanting to join police, he said.

"There was a lot of confusion around at the start of the year. I know people who had made arrangements for the January intake – who left their jobs – and then were put back," O'Connor said.

"The more difficult you make it the harder it will be to get the people that you want. You don't just want the people who don't have jobs."

O'Connor said when intakes were cancelled in 2001, it took a long time to make up the attrition rate. "That created massive problems, particularly in Auckland, that took about four years to fix. A lot of the public didn't get the attention they needed."

A Wellington man who is part-way through the application process called the delays "frustrating". He did not want to be named, fearing it would impede his chances of getting into police college. "It's annoying because you want to join, you're thirsty to do it, they're advertising for it, you start the process and then nothing happens," he said.

Police said recruitment marketing was planned well in advance of intakes as the application process took at least six months to get through.

Acting deputy commissioner Michael Player said recruitment wasn't an "extact science" and applying to be in the police wasn't like applying for other jobs.

"Everyone that enters knows we have to have slots per district. We are quite rigorous about the selection process and only take quality candidates." The next two intakes were already full, so it did not appear those in the waiting pool had been put off, he said.

"If they are deterred by the process then maybe it says something about the quality." Player said deferral of the January intake was due to a "blip" in the process, where police heavily advertised to get 600 new cops on the frontline, and the pool filled up very quickly.

The question of police recruitment cuts arose in November – during election debate – when Labour leader Phil Goff revealed sources told him all intakes would be cancelled for 2012.

The government came back saying only the January and February intakes were put off. Police later decided there would be both a February and a March intake, both with spots for 80 people. The deferral was blamed on a lower-than-usual attrition rate, of 3.5%. Figures show 380 police left the service during 2011.

Goff said his sources said the deferrals were a way of making savings. He understood there were planned widespread budget cuts across the force and says that if he hadn't raised the matter during the election debate, "there would have been a longer deferral period."

The question now was in what other area police would have to make savings.

Police Minister Anne Tolley said it was a great result that, in difficult economic times, the police were recruiting high-calibre candidates to maintain frontline staffing levels, while spending less money on advertising.

She said there will be more intakes later in the year.

"This just proves that Labour's claims were complete nonsense," she said.

BY THE NUMBERS

Of the $384,00 spent on recruitment marketing in the 2011-12 year so far:

$1300 spent on travel

$6500 spent on social media

$9000 spent on printing

$24,000 spent on careers events and giveaways

$24,000 was spent on the Newcops website

$25,000 was spent on research

$117,000 on advertising production costs

$163,000 spent on advertising media costs

- © Fairfax NZ News