Police taking four times longer to respond to 111 calls

One News reports:

New data shows police response times around the country have become remarkably slower under the Labour-led Government.

The stats, obtained by National, show response times to serious crime have blown out in many districts since 2017.

In Auckland, officers arrived in 26 minutes or less 90% of the time in 2017. That time has now jumped out to one hour and 49 minutes this year.

That is appalling. You call 111 in Auckland and have to wait two hours for the Police to arrive.

Police Association president Chris Cahill said the data left him “concerned” and he believed the public would also be concerned.

But Police Minister Poto Williams told 1News she wasn’t sure what was going on and had no plans to find out.

Williams said she was “not over the detail” despite 1News having sent the details to her office, and described it as an “operational matter to the police”.

It is not an operational matter. It is a public confidence matter. Good Governments and Ministers set targets for agencies. One of those targets can be (and has been) how long it takes to respond to 111 calls.