Police Minister Judith Collins has congratulated 40 new police constables as they mark the end of their training at the Royal New Police College with an attestation parade today.

Today’s parade is being attended by Wing Patron Hon Luamanuvao Winne Laban and Police Commissioner Mike Bush, along with family and friends of the 40 new constables.

Ms Collins says the parade marks the beginning of a challenging but rewarding career for the new officers as they look to be leaders within New Zealand’s diverse communities.

The Corrections Inspectorate function will be more transparent as a result of a new Inspectorate Reporting policy, says Corrections Minister Judith Collins.

Inspectors were established by the Corrections Act 2004 to provide assurance around the delivery of Corrections’ services. Specifically, they visit all public and private prisons, investigate incidents, investigate complaints and undertake thematic reviews.

Corrections Minister Judith Collins has today inspected the $19m upgrade of Invercargill Prison which will add another fifty years of life into the century old facility.

The Department of Corrections has just completed a three year, three stage refurbishment, providing significant health and security improvements to the prison that has the capacity to accommodate 172 prisoners on sentence and remand and 75 staff.

The project has replaced older facilities, created more space for trade and training programmes and earthquake strengthened some areas where required.

Corrections Minister Judith Collins has welcomed 27 new Corrections Officers who graduated today.

The new staff will be based at Northland Region Corrections Facility, Mt Eden Corrections Facility, Spring Hill Corrections Facility, Hawke’s Bay Regional Prison, Manawatu Prison, Arohata Prison, Rimutaka Prison, Christchurch Men’s Prison, and Otago Corrections Facility.

A former army officer’s exceptional leadership and people skills saw her awarded the Minister’s Excellence Award.

A new reporting tool has been introduced to create a more user-friendly and interactive experience for the public and the media to access crime information, says Police Minister Judith Collins.

Previously, monthly crime statistics have been released by Statistics NZ under the Recorded Crime Offender Statistics (RCOS) and Recorded Crime Victimisation Statistics (RCVS) data sets.

Social Development Minister Anne Tolley and Corrections Minister Judith Collins have announced the launch of the second stage of a new $15.3 million initiative to help offenders prepare for, find and stay in employment and reduce reoffending.

The Salvation Army and Workwise will work with the offenders from ten weeks before until twelve months after their release to give them the support they need to develop the necessary skills to find and maintain a job, while also increasing support for employers to take on offenders.

Corrections Minister Judith Collins has congratulated seven prisoners and two prisoner peer mentors who graduated from the Howard League Literacy programme at Kohuora Auckland South Corrections Facility today.

Ms Collins presented the graduates with certificates, marking their achievement in completing the 12 week literacy course. She congratulated the men for taking an important step to living a better life when they leave prison.

The Government has approved the procurement of a 1,500 bed facility at Waikeria Prison that will be designed, built, financed and maintained under a Public Private Partnership (PPP), Corrections Minister Judith Collins announced today.

“Last month I advised that the Government had approved plans to increase prison capacity on existing prison sites.  At that time approval in principal was given to a new facility at Waikeria Prison.  I am pleased to advise that the Government has now approved the detailed business case for the new facility.”

Police Minister Judith Collins has announced the eight agencies involved in the New Zealand Gang Intelligence Centre (GIC) will be undertaking a public consultation on an information sharing agreement.

The Gang Intelligence Centre was officially launched in March this year and  provides an intelligence-led response to gangs bringing together information held by Police, Corrections, Internal Affairs, Housing NZ, MBIE, MSD, and Customs. An information sharing agreement will also allow Inland Revenue to share information to the Centre.

Corrections Minister Judith Collins has welcomed a new law that makes it simpler to hold offenders and bailees to account when they are subject to conditions prohibiting the use of drugs and alcohol.

The Drug and Alcohol Testing of Community-based Offenders, Bailees and Other Persons Legislation Bill passed its third reading today.

Corrections Minister Judith Collins has welcomed 19 new Corrections Officers who graduated today.

The new staff will be based at Northland Region Corrections Facility, Mt Eden Corrections Facility, Waikeria Prison, Spring Hill Corrections Facility, Hawke’s Bay Regional Prison, Manawatu Prison, Arohata Prison, Rimutaka Prison, and Christchurch Men’s Prison.

Jeff Petrie, who will work at Hawke’s Bay Regional Prison, was presented with the Minister’s Excellence Award.

Police will soon be able to recover the cost of vetting services, with the Policing (Cost Recovery) Amendment Bill passing its third reading in Parliament.

“The new legislation amends the Policing Act 2008 to enable regulations to be made that allow Police to recover costs for certain policing services that fall within the definition of a ‘demand service’.

Official crime statistics for September 2016 released today, show Police recorded 1,390 more victimisations for the month compared to the same month last year says Police Minister Judith Collins.

For the twelve month period, 30 September 2015 to 30 September 2016, the total number of victimisations increased from 261,748 to 276,098.

There were 6,361 burglary victimisations in September.  In this crime category, there were 72,776 victimisations in the 12 months to September 2016 – a rise of 10,979 (17.8%) from the previous 12 months.

Corrections Minister Judith Collins today acknowledged seven staff who have helped to assist and develop Corrections services in the Pacific Islands over the last ten years.

Today’s ceremony in Christchurch followed the ceremony in Wellington last month in which Ms Collins awarded Pacific Pins to the first batch of 17 staff who had been posted to Pitcairn Island, Vanuatu and Samoa.

Ministers today welcomed the start of the second Integrated Safety Response (ISR) pilot site in Waikato and announced another $1.4 million in new funding to support the pilot programme.

The ISR pilot involves core agencies and specialist family violence NGOs working together as a team to ensure that families experiencing violence get the help and support they need to stay safe.

An additional $1.4 million from the Justice Sector Fund will support the new site in Waikato, as well as the Christchurch pilot site which has been up and running since 4 July.

Police Minister Judith Collins has today congratulated 39 new Police officers and three Police Dog Patrol teams at the Royal New Zealand Police College at Porirua.

Ms Collins joined family and friends to celebrate the attestation parade of Wing 300 with their Patron, John Allen.

The Wing 300 attestation parade marks the completion of the first phase of the Police officers’ training which involves an intensive 18 week course at the Royal New Zealand Police College.

The Government has approved plans to increase prison capacity on existing prison sites by approximately 1800 beds, Corrections Minister Judith Collins says.

Despite significant progress in reducing crime the number of prisoners has increased faster than projected. This is because the proportion of offenders charged with serious crimes has risen, meaning more people are being remanded in custody and serving more of their sentences in prison.

Corrections will receive $2.5 million from the Justice Sector Fund to help offenders into stable employment.

The ‘This Way for Work’ initiative, is a two year pilot programme, and includes a new in-house recruitment function and the provision of Employer Starter Packs. The programme will complement the $15.3 million initiative to improve the employment prospects of released prisons announced by the Social Development and Corrections Ministers earlier this month.

Corrections Minister Judith Collins has commended the Department for the work it is undertaking with the victims of crime.

Corrections is taking a  more proactive communication approach with registered victims. The new approach is intended to make things easier for victims to understand, to educate them on the processes they may not be aware of and the way the system works.

Corrections Minister Judith Collins has welcomed the release of the Chief Inspector of Corrections inquiry into ‘fight clubs’ and contraband in the Mount Eden Corrections Facility (MECF).

“The inquiry was very thorough and made a number of findings which were critical of Serco’s operation of MECF. The inquiry also found that the Department did not meet its monitoring obligations.

“The Chief Inspector made 21 recommendations for improvement and all of these recommendations are either completed or in progress.

Corrections Minister Judith Collins has welcomed 29 new Corrections Officers and Offender Employment Instructors who graduated today.

The new staff will be based at Auckland Prison, Mt Eden Corrections Facility, Auckland Region Women’s Corrections Facility, Waikeria Prison, Spring Hill Corrections Facility, Hawkes Bay Regional Prison, Whanganui Prison, Manawatu Prison, Arohata Prison, Rimutaka Prison, and Christchurch Men’s Prison.

Amy Rainford, who will work at Whanganui Prison, was presented with the Minister’s Excellence Award.

Corrections Minister Judith Collins visited Christchurch Women’s Prison today to celebrate the five year anniversary of the expanded use of Mothers with Babies Units.

Since September 2011, and following the passing of the Corrections (Mothers with Babies) Amendment Act in 2008, mothers with babies have been able to keep their baby with them in prison until they are two years old. Up until then, mothers were only able to keep their baby with them until they were nine months old.

Social Development Minister Anne Tolley and Corrections Minister Judith Collins have announced the launch of a new initiative to support more offenders into employment.

Budget 2016 invested $15.3 million over three years for the trial, which is targeted at increasing the employment prospects of released prisoners.

Work and Income case managers and professionals will work with prisoners from pre-release for up to a year to help them prepare, find and stay in employment to help reduce reoffending.