National’s Law and Order Fiasco | The Jackal

14 May 2025

National’s Law and Order Fiasco

The National-led coalition, which came to power in 2023 with grand promises of restoring law and order, has entirely failed to deliver. Along with help from the mainstream media, they painted a grim picture of a crime-ridden New Zealand, vowing to crack down on gangs, bolster police numbers, and make our streets safer.

However, as we hit mid-2025, the evidence of their law and order letdowns is mounting: this government has failed spectacularly on its core pledge, leaving New Zealanders feeling less safe and the police force stretched thinner than ever before.

The coalition of chaos’ pledge to recruit 500 additional front-line police officers by November 2025 is dead in the water. Police Commissioner Richard Chambers admitted on Q+A that the target is “ambitious,” with any increase in recruitment likely delayed until early 2026. This isn’t just a backtrack…it’s a broken promise. National and NZ First’s coalition agreement was crystal clear: 500 new officers in two years. Just over one year in, officer numbers have dropped by over 50. Attrition is bleeding the force dry, with around 540 officers leaving annually (based on a 5.4% attrition rate in 2025, up from 2.5% in 2021) for retirement or better opportunities abroad in places like Australia. The government’s response? A pathetic 180 recruits graduated in 2024, nowhere near enough to plug the gap.


Yesterday, RNZ reported:

 

Govt concedes it'll likely miss November target for 500 new police

Mitchell said: "We will deliver our 500 police officers this term, without a doubt ... what we've said is that we're not going to get hung up on a date."



Mitchell earlier rejected the characterisation that the promise to deliver on the 500 new officers had been a "failure" on Sunday, despite being previously committed to it.

"We set a date of November 25 for the police to do that. We remain committed to delivering our 500 police officers, however, obviously, there have been a few things happen since then," he said, in response to media questions.

 

No surprises there really.

The public perception of police is also getting worse. The New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey (NZCVS) shows trust in police plummeting, with only two-thirds of Kiwis expressing confidence in 2024, down from previous years. Violent crime, which Mark Mitchell claimed was dipping, is questioned for dodgy datasets. Does anybody actually believe that violent crime is declining while methamphetamine use has more than doubled since National gained power?

 

National claims that their tough-on-crime rhetoric is working, while using statistics for violent crime from when Labour was in government, which is a gross manipulation of official data that deserves much more media attention than it received. If left wing political parties did something like that, we’d never hear the end of it. Sexual assaults are also increasing, with reports showing that sexual violence in New Zealand against teenagers is amongst the worst in the developed world.

Gangs are flourishing, with the National Gang List growing exponentially in an environment of government austerity. Yet, Mitchell’s anti-gang laws, like the public patch ban, lack evidence of effectiveness and may even worsen the situation. The government’s youth boot camps, which were already a proven failure, will likely only worsen outcomes as well. According to New Zealand Defence Force documents, military-style training does not work for complex participants and has previously resulted in serious mental and physical harm of defence personnel. But has that given the government pause for thought? No! They have continued with their socially destructive law and order agenda that even includes cutting rehabilitation services that were proven to be effective.

Then there are the government's stupid changes to sentencing laws. The coalition’s tough-on-crime policies such as capping sentence discounts and re-initiating three-strikes, hasn’t translated to safer streets. Justice Ministry officials warned harsher penalties don’t boost public confidence, citing a 25% imprisonment rise from 2003–2016 that failed to increase public perceptions of crime or trust in police. Meanwhile, frontline officers are overburdened, redeployed to Auckland’s CBD to save the government face while other areas go without and grow ever more vulnerable.

The public’s perception is clear: polling shows New Zealanders don’t feel safer at all, which should result in Mark Mitchell's resignation.

This government’s law and order agenda is a house of cards. They’ve overpromised and underdelivered, leaving police understaffed and communities exposed. National’s flip-flopping (extending then retracting the recruitment timeline) shows a coalition in chaos, more focused on sound bites and penny pinching than saving lives through effective law and order policies. They are more concerned with massaging crime stats rather than increasing police numbers and providing proper rehabilitation services. None of this is forgivable, especially to all those victims of crime who are still being silenced and ignored by the system. Thankfully, they will have a chance to vote this utter failure of a National led government out next year.