拨款大幅削减，警察成今年财政预算最大输家        
       
今年国家党政府财政预算警察拨款被削减超过$4千万。已经捉襟见肘的警察，可能只能够在打击和防止犯罪以及其他各项开支当中进一步削减。

工党警察事务发言人Jacinda Ardern指出，上一年度的财政预算警察的拨款就已遭重创，警察队伍各项支出也相继削减，而在2014的财政预算中又遭重创，让警察始料未及。

警察已经在自己能够削减经费的情形下节衣缩食。因经费的削减，已经减少了后勤人数、警车数量、关闭派出所以及对警察队伍的训练，而这一切都会带来相应的负面效果。

正如警察协会所说，如此削减经费不知道哪个环节会出纰漏。

警察部门的经费如此难堪，他们去年不得已只能从司法口去寻求$600万拨款。而这$600万是用作裁员遣散费。

而国家党所削减的领域非常可笑，遭削减的领域包括刑侦和预防犯罪。这对警察将预防犯罪作为第一要务的战略来说是致命一击。

在今年进一步削减之前，警察的前线警力就已经出现了一些纰漏。破案率在某些地区已经明显下降，而警官的辞职率又达四年新高。

警察的工作是艰苦的，他们需要政府的支持在今年的预算中得到体现。国家党财政预算对警力拨款的大幅削减是一个错误。非常可悲的是，因国家党错误而遭损失、尝恶果的却是千千万万的普通百姓。
来源：霍建强议员办公室
（英文新闻稿原文如下）

Jacinda  
ARDERN
Police Spokesperson                       
16 May 2014                                                    MEDIA STATEMENT
 Police hit hard in this year’s Budget
The Police will have no choice but to cut back on crime prevention and make hard choices on what they respond to after a budget cut of more than $40 million, says Labour's Police spokesperson Jacinda Ardern.

“The last budget saw a cut for the Police and resulted in pretty significant cut backs. Yet another cut in Budget 2014 will have caught many off guard.

“The Police have trimmed back on absolutely everything they can already. We have seen significant cuts to support staff numbers, station closures, a reduction in vehicles and cuts to staff training, all of which is having an effect.

“As the Police Association said ‘something will break’.

“Things have got so bad for the Police that they had to resort to making a bid for money from the Justice Sector Fund last year to cover $6 million in redundancy costs.

“The areas the Government has cut from are crazy, including investigations and crime prevention. This completely undermines the Police's strategy of Prevention First.

“The cracks were already starting to show for our frontline officers before this extra cut. Resolution rates for some areas had taken a hit and police resignations are at a four year high.

“The Police do a tough job, and they needed the Government to back them this Budget. Sadly, this is a budget mistake that the public will ultimately suffer the consequences of,” says Jacinda Ardern.