If you think Chris Cahill from the Police Association is talking out of his ear, well, he’s not. And I’ve got a story to prove it. 

And it shows just how nuts this blanket cost-cutting right across the public sector really is, especially when it comes to the Police. 

On the very day that we’re finding out how much of a problem retail crime is in New Zealand. This is courtesy of stats obtained by the Dairy and Business Owners Group, using the Official Information Act. 

Sunny Kaushall, who chairs the group, says we are dealing with a crime emergency. More than 400 retail crimes reported every day on average last year - with six retail staff a day complaining to police they had been violently or sexually assaulted on the job.  

And, at the same time, we’ve got the Police Association saying that a freeze on hiring back-office staff —or non-sworn officers, as they’re known— is already causing backlogs and delays and all that’s going to do is make it harder for the Government to implement its tough-on-crime policies. 

Chris Cahill says it’s non-sworn police staff who do things like answer 111 and 105 calls and prepare police files for court.  

He says when these jobs can’t be done by non-sworn staff, it takes police officers off the street. Off the beat. Takes them away from dealing with the 77,000 mental health callouts they get each year - which, on their own, take-up about three hours of police time, per callout.  

He says when you don’t have enough non-sworn staff, you don’t have enough sworn police officers to deal with crime because they’re back at base doing essential behind-the-scenes donkey work.  

And Chris Cahill isn’t just making this stuff up to suit his cause. Or the cause of the police staff he represents. Because I’ve got an example of where this very thing has happened. 

In the UK, guess how many police officers are having to work away from the frontline because of cost-cutting? Because there aren’t enough back-office staff, so cops —instead of being out on patrol— are stuck in police stations? Guess how many?  

6,000. 6,000 officers working away from the frontline, filling gaps because of cost-cutting.  

And this is not a union person or a brassed-off cop talking about this. It’s the head of the National Police Chiefs Council in Britain saying it. And the problem dates back to 2010 when the British government slashed police budgets.  

Which, like we’re seeing here, meant less police staff behind the scenes. Doing all the stuff essential to keep the police force operating.  

And so, because of that, police chiefs in Britain have had to take officers away from the frontline. And not just a few. Right now, in Britain, there are 6,000 police officers who should be out dealing with crime, working behind the scenes because of budget cuts. 

And the thing our government needs to take particular notice of, is that —even though more money has gone into the police in Britain in recent years— the force is still playing catch-up, even though these cuts started 14 years ago.   

Which means that any cuts to our police force now, will have a long-term effect - even if we get to a point where there is more money to invest. The cost-cutting tail is very long. Which is why I think the Government needs to wake-up and give the Police an exemption from this obsessive cost-cutting.