Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has defended the Government's request for police to find savings at the same time as it announced new funding for other parts of the organisation.
In Thursday's Budget, the Government announced $226.1m over four years to help fulfil the pledge of an extra 500 police officers.
As part of the Budget announcement there was also $424.9m over four years to support front line policing, including for pay and vehicles.
But the next day, Police Association president Chris Cahill emailed members to say about 175 staff are set to lose their jobs.
That's "in addition to over 200 vacant police employee positions arising from the recruitment freeze, many of which police may permanently disestablish", Cahill said in the email.
The cuts were because the Government asked police to find $55 million of savings.
Luxon told Breakfast this morning: "What we're doing across all the government agencies is making sure that we do move money out of the back office bureaucracy to the front line services.
"We tasked all the heads of all the different government agencies to generate some savings, and that has enabled us then to move that money — particularly in the case of police, and law and order, and Corrections — into the front line services as a result."
In this case, the agency leader is Police Commissioner Andrew Coster.
In an email to staff about the cuts, Coster acknowledged the work of back office staff is crucial to front line officers working "quickly, effectively and safely", RNZ reports.
Luxon said he wanted a "lean" back office to be "the habit" for all government agencies. In combination with new funds, the money has helped "amplify" the ability to hire new front line officers and to pay them better, he said.
"What we've said to the agencies is, 'Hey listen, you go back, stop the dumb programmes, look at your management structures, look at how you can get more efficient back offices' and then put that money into the front line in the case of police and law and order, and Corrections as well," he continued.
"Then we'll add incremental new money to that.
"So yes, there's $650 million, of which a piece of that is the savings that have been generated from the back office of police — which police have determined that's what they can deliver."
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