West Coast Police have commenced a review of the Area’s service delivery. This review will analyse the West Coast’s demand for service and where the current staff deployment model can be optimised to better support Policing activities.

 

Tasman District Commander Superintendent Karyn Malthus said the aim was to ensure the current staff are appropriately distributed and deployed across the West Coast Area to meet the needs of the West Coast communities.

 

“It is important that we are forward thinking with the management and deployment of resources and my intention is to ensure we have a model that optimises our effectiveness now and looking forward to 2020,” she said.

 

Inspector Jeff Penno from Waikato has been appointed to conduct the review and analysis.

As part of the review All Police staff on the West Coast will have the opportunity to contribute to the review. The West Coast Area Commander Inspector John Canning will be meeting with local stakeholders to brief them on the terms of reference for the review and to provide an opportunity for feedback.

 

Inspector Canning will also be holding a series of community meetings to explain the need for the review and provide members of the community the opportunity to give feedback.

 

The review is expected to conclude in October 2015 and any proposal to change the existing Area structure will go through a consultation process. It is anticipated this consultation, if required, will take place in November 2015.

 

 

1.              Since 2011, New Zealand Police (Police) has been embarking on a transformational journey to change the strategic focus and operating model to a future preventative focus.  A previous model of continuing to add investment to responsive and reactive policing has proven unsustainable and is counter intuitive to reducing crime and the fear of crime across New Zealand communities.

 

2.              The move from a responsive style to a preventative culture is a significant change and is conditional on overcoming decades of reactive thinking with little focus on problem solving to prevent, mitigate or minimise victimisation.  Anecdotally, most Police staff are attracted to policing to protect and serve their communities, but traditionally, this has been from the perspective of catching the "bad guys" rather than preventing crime from occurring in the first place.

 

3.              Over the past three years, Policing Excellence has progressively delivered a range of operational tools and changes to workplace practices which has removed a number of functions from stations, obligations from supervisors and improved the efficiency of frontline staff.  These deliverables include the Crime Reporting Line (CRL), Workforce Management, District Command Centre, Mobility and File Management Centres which combined, provide significant support services for frontline staff and greatly increase their availability for proactive policing.

 

4.              An effective Police operating model is reliant on having the right people in the right place at the right time. Another important part of the Policing model is continuous improvement which relies on us continually exploring opportunities to further embed the Prevention First Strategy. This means balancing the existing resource across the preventative, response, investigative and support functions.  This review has been commissioned in order to identify what, if any, changes need to be made to the West Coast Service Delivery Model to meet the needs of the West Coast Area looking forward from 2015 to 2020.

 

5.              This Terms of Reference sets out the scope and approach of the review along with anticipated time frames and expected deliverables.

 

6.              This review seeks to establish the optimal service delivery model across time and geographic location as well as the functional capabilities of prevention, response, investigation and support in order to best meet the service delivery standards required both by statute and prioritised by the outcomes sought from the Police Statement of Intent.  Also in consideration will be the balance of public expectation of Police service delivery to the community within existing resources as well as public and Police staff safety.

 

7.              The review is not seeking to identify opportunities to increase or decrease the current staff establishment for the West Coast Area only to ensure that the current staff establishment is appropriately distributed and deployed. All Constabulary and Police Employee positions on the West Coast that come under the control of the West Coast Area Commander are within the scope of this review.

 

8.              The review methodology will include both quantitative and qualitative analysis for consideration.

 

9.              The qualitative aspect of the review will include staff interviews to seek opinion and identify opportunities to optimise the delivery of policing services across the West Coast Area. It will also include information gathered during the stakeholder and community consultation process.

 

10.          The review will not consider the delivery of specialist resources provided by District Headquarters.

Milestones, Deliverables and Timelines

 

11.          Progress reports on the review findings and barriers will be provided in writing to the District Commander on a weekly basis.

 

12.          A draft report on the review, its findings and recommendations is to be provided to the Tasman District Commander on 26 October 2015. A full time line is attached as Appendix One.

 

13.          Waikato District Deployment Manager, Inspector Jeff Penno is to be released from his incumbent position in order to undertake this review for an initial period of three months.

 

14.          It is anticipated that the resource required for analysis will be equivalent of one full time employee for the duration of the review. This resource will be provided from within the Prevention Group, however it may include more than one individual at any one stage in time depending on the amount and type of analysis required.  Assistance with report writing can also be provided from within the Prevention Group.

 

15.          All direct costs for this review, including travel and associated costs for Inspector Penno, will be met by the Tasman District Commander.

 

Superintendent Karyn Malthus

Tasman District Commander