And for all the talk of “professionalism” I’ll bet they like having Glocks! when facing the bad guys.

Call it propaganda but that’s a damned effective advertisement from the Queensland cops. A male and female, Maori, and they look like the combine toughness with smarts and warmth (when that’s needed, which is often in a cop’s world).

And it’s obvious that a lot of NZ cops are heeding the call. It’s one of the few things that has made me angry about the current government. When we talk about Public Servants the people in that photo are the ones that we need more of, with higher payer, job support and whatever else is needed to retain them in their jobs and attract more like them.

Front line staff, and this obviously applies to doctors and nurses too. Teachers I’m not so supportive of anymore.

And yet what have we got so far? Wage and salary increases that don’t match this stuff because the government is already on the edge for debt, wanted little tax reductions – that took us all the way back to 2021 – and could not re-allocate state spending to the front-line because they’re terrified of firing the tens of thousands of people that Labour added to the bureaucrat rolls in paper-pushing jobs in Wellington Right Jim?

I don’t like linking to the MSM, especially NZ MSM, because I want them to die, but this NZ Herald article confirms what I’ve been hearing from my contacts: cops scraping by, even to the extent of visiting food banks, plus people missing out on things like weddings and other happy events in life because the stadd issues mean they’re stuck with mountains of unpaid overtime:

After rejecting the Government’s pay offer in September 2023, New Zealand police were presented with the same offer on March 9. Amid a cost-of-living crisis and demanding conditions, they called it “insulting”, “disgusting” and “demoralising”.
…
“We thought things were going to change and we were going to have a bit more support there from the Government, especially with [Police Minister] Mark Mitchell being quite vocal about being a [former] police officer. “But it’s been verbal support only.”

Okay, so it’s the Herald doing their usual partisan Labour-with-a-byline hit job on National. But they do actually mention the light sentences that crims are getting even for assaults on cops.

And there’s one aspect of low pay and conditions not mentioned in the article: a police force like that is a prime target for criminals with money.

The gangs have that money, and they are willing to spend it in pursuit of their goals.