WELLINGTON, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- The deployment of 500 extra police to target organized crime will make significant inroads to efforts to reduce victimization and improve the wellbeing of New Zealand communities, Police Minister Stuart Nash said on Tuesday.
The Commissioner of Police revealed details of how the additional frontline officers will be allocated "as part of the unprecedented effort to prevent and combat serious and organized crime," Nash said in a statement.
Areas of focus include disrupting transnational criminal groups, national and local gangs, cyber-crime, money laundering and child exploitation. The purpose is to prevent crime and reduce the harm to communities from the supply of drugs, serious violence and other offending, Nash said.
"Organized criminals and gangs are supplying methamphetamine to our communities with no regard for the significant harm it causes, and these extra police will be going after them," he said.
"Police will be targeting our most serious offenders and criminal leaders to take them off the street," the minister said, adding the police will also be looking to help others on the periphery of gang life and other vulnerable people to get the help they need to fight addiction, break the cycle, and improve their lives.
A further 200 district-based officers will support the focus on preventing organized crime. The new investment also provides for the specialist skills and the tools required for effective 21st-century policing, including the latest technology to combat organized crime, he added.
