WELLINGTON, June 6 (Xinhua) -- A new record for the number of police officers deployed to various New Zealand regions in a single year has been created with the graduation of 78 new constables on Thursday.
The graduation means a total of 831 new frontline police have been deployed to communities around the country during the 2018-2019 financial year, Police Minister Stuart Nash said, adding the previous highest number of new police in one financial year occurred 21 years ago when 683 officers graduated during 1997 and 1998.
Following the March 15 Christchurch terrorist attacks, New Zealand Police are responding to "unexpected new demands for national security, crime prevention and community safety," Nash said in a statement.
During the next financial year, there will be a record five police training wings in Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, he said.
The Wellbeing Budget which came out last week contains more than 260 million NZ dollars (172 million U.S. dollars) in new initiatives for the police so that they can strengthen controls on the use of firearms and reduce the risk of firearms falling into the wrong hands, the minister said.
