A big boost is planned for Police under the Labour-led government, with a goal to add 1800 new police officers over three years.
Appearing on the AM Show on Tuesday, new Police Minister Stuart Nash says police have been "stretched to the breaking point" due to under-resourcing - and he plans on fixing this.
"We want to put more police back on the beat, back into our communities, like it used to be," he says.
"We're going to put more police into our communities to keep people safe, to prevent crime, but also to put bad guys behind bars."
Mr Nash says he is working on a plan on where the new police will go, including geographic areas and specialist team areas such as organised crime and cyber-crime.
"We want to get back to the days where we used to have a police presence in all our communities," he says.
"The nature of crime has changed. We've got P which is causing havoc in our communities; we need to deal with this."
However Mr Nash says the delivery of police numbers is an "aspirational target" and he's "unsure" exactly how they will be integrated into the existing force.
"Whether it's 600 in the first year, 600 second, 600 third or whether it's 400 - I'm unsure about the exact ratios, because what we do need to do is talk to the police college and say 'ok, how are you going to gear up to make sure we deliver on this promise,'" he says.
"It's not 'can you deliver', it's 'how will we deliver on this promise.'"
Mr Nash says the 1800 will not necessary all be sworn staff, and instead some could be "authorised officers".
Newshub.
