Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Police are seeking relief from growing pressures to tackle non-crime social problems.
A "refocus" of police work is the leading "key opportunity" in a briefing to the incoming Police Minister Mark Mitchell, released on Thursday.
The briefing says police have been forced, by the lack of other social services, to step in when it comes to family harm, mental health, and child protection calls.
The proposed change would involve "supporting managed withdrawal and advocating for that role to be filled by others".
"For example, reducing police's role in mental health crisis response is a clear opportunity, as is right sizing our response to family harm," the document says.
Responding even where there was no crime could work to prevent future harm, "but more often limits police's capacity to respond to other criminal offending the public reasonably expects us to address", the briefing said.
"We are constantly making deliberate trade-offs ... about what not to do."
This is one of a number of briefings to incoming ministers released on Thursday. Read more:
- Read the briefing to the climate minister here
- Read the briefing to the transport minister here
- Read the education briefing
- Read the briefing to the foreign affairs minister
- Read the briefing from the National Emergency Management Agency
Its release follows Mitchell on Wednesday being forced to correct the parliamentary record after saying it would take three years to recruit 500 new police officers, instead of two, as promised.
The new briefing said police, as of late last year, had only 68 people ready for a call-up into the ranks, with 1300 in the recruitment pipeline.
Attrition of an ageing constabulary was getting worse, and replacing officers was toughest in rural and provincial areas, it said.
Only about a tenth of the 4000 people applying each year were recruited.
At the same time, demands were growing to respond to cybercrime and, especially, non-crime social problems that had vaulted into the top spot in demand on police time.
Combating violence was only at number seven.
"In many cases ... the policing response stretches beyond the ideal functions of a police service."
Long-term government policy and funding decisions had exacerbated the problem, the briefing said.