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IR-01-22-14053
20 June 2022
James Regan
[FYI request #19367 email]
Tēnā koe James
Request for information
Thank you for your Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) request of 16 May 2022 regarding
Canterbury recruits for the New Zealand Police. My response to each part of your request
can be found below.
1. How many current people are in the process for Canterbury by recruitment step.
As of 23 May 2022, there are 116 applicants in the constabulary recruitment process with
a first preference of Canterbury District. The stage within the recruitment pipeline for each
of these applicants is as fol ows:
Step
Applicants
Pending National Intelligence Application check
0
To risk assess
1
To have phone conversation
0
Phone pass
1
To online testing
0
Online testing pass
0
HQ pending
0
Other medical forms pending
1
Medical forms received
7
Pending RAI
1 form
1
RAI form received
0
Booked assessment day
0
POST
2
3
Initial Physical Appraisal Test
6
1 RAI stands for “Recruit Additional Information”. This is a form Police send to applicants
for further information where needed to carry out secondary vetting.
2 POST is the name of the literacy assessment Police use for applicants that require
additional literacy testing to advance in the process. POST technically stands for ‘Police
Officer Selection Test’, however this is not an all-encompassing test.
Police National Headquarters
180 Molesworth Street. PO Box 3017, Wellington 6140, New Zealand.
Telephone: 04 474 9499. www.police.govt.nz
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SCOPE
3
1
TMU
4
1
National Intelligence Centre vetting
64
To interview
0
Reference check
8
Final sign off & National Selection Panel
17
Pending other
0
In candidate pool
5
Total
116
2. What is being done to ensure all the current people in the recruitment
process wil be selected for a wing.
Until recently, Police accepted applications for constabulary recruitment for any part of
the country at any time. This led to significantly more applicants in the recruitment
process than were required to fil upcoming places at Royal New Zealand Police College
(RNZPC). In 2021 Police changed its approach and now opens and closes applications
for parts of the country based on geographical requirement. As a result of high applicant
numbers in Canterbury, Police is currently not accepting any additional applications for
that district. This approach is designed to ensure that qualifying applicants are able to
progress through the recruitment process in a more reasonable timeframe. However,
applicants under the old approach may experience some delays. The constabulary
recruitment team works with applicants discussing options that wil enable them to make it
to RNZPC sooner, particularly if applicants are prepared to be posted to other parts of the
country that do not have the same delays.
3. What the estimated timeframe is to ensure that al applicants get into a wing.
Based on current model ing, it is anticipated that up to 80 of the applicants that are
currently in the pipeline for Canterbury wil meet al requirements and make it to RNZPC.
Depending on when they applied and how quickly they progress through the process, it
may take more than a year for some applicants to be offered a placement at RNZPC.
4. The number of recruits being taken to Police College for Canterbury over the
next 2 years, if possible, broken down in to each wing. Eg 5 out of 80 for
Canterbury in Wing 358 etc
Current projections for the 2022/23 financial year are that 50-60 recruits for the
Canterbury district wil commence training at the RNZPC. Over this year, 12 wings are
expected to commence at RNZPC. The exact allocations for each wing are confirmed
closer to the start of the wing, to ensure that recruit numbers meet the needs of each
district. Whilst the exact numbers al ocated to Canterbury for each wing cannot be
confirmed at this time, it is expected that on most wings Canterbury wil receive between
four and six recruits. Government has recently announced additional funding to enable
growth in Police numbers in the 2023/24 year. However, district allocations for this
3 SCOPE stand for Working with Police to experience Surroundings, conditions /
descriptions, Organisation, People / prospects, and Effects / education / training.
4 TMU stands for “Temporarily Medical y Unwell”. That is an applicant who is injured/il
and needs to recover before continuing in the application process.
funding have not yet been confirmed. For these reasons it is not possible to give accurate
details of recruitment numbers for the Canterbury district over the next two years, and this
part of your request is therefore refused under section 18(e) of the OIA, as the
information you have requested does not exist.
I trust this provides you with the information you were seeking. You have the right, under
section 28(3) of the OIA, to ask the Ombudsman to review my decision if you are not
satisfied with the way I have responded to your request.
Yours sincerely
Christine Parker
Executive Director: People Operations
New Zealand Police
