Peter MacDonald
RNZ’s Felix Walton recently reported on the audit exposing how the Royal New Zealand Police College let a number of underqualified recruits through the door. As usual, the mainstream media (MSM) touched on the surface facts, quotes and political finger pointing but completely ignored the deeper question:
Why is this happening? What’s the systemic cause?
It Didn’t Start with Mitchell
The audit covers January 2024 to April 2025, during current Police Minister Mark Mitchell’s tenure. Labour’s Ginny Andersen was quick to remind him of that, while Mitchell pointed back to Labour’s prior recruitment targets and reduced training length.
But the truth is, neither side wants to talk about the real rot, the quiet ideological shift inside New Zealand Police, where globalist DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) policies have gradually overtaken the tried-and-true model of fit-for-purpose policing.
This wasn’t about fixing inequality: it became social engineering, implemented by police leadership, emboldened by Labour and Green ideology and silently approved by National now that they’re in the driver’s seat.
Merit Replaced by Mandate
The traditional New Zealand police recruit, once, was mostly European male Kiwis: practical, capable, mentally and physically fit, but has increasingly been replaced by someone selected to tick boxes: race, gender, ‘lived experience’ and other identity categories.
Again, diversity is not the problem. We’ve always had Māori, Pacific, women and others in the force, and they earned their way in. The problem is that merit no longer comes first.
When DEI ideology crept in through the back door of Police HQ, capability went out the window.
The Media’s Silence is Deafening
RNZ reported the story, but only the safe parts. MSM refuses to ask the tough questions about why recruitment standards were allowed to slide. They’ll never admit that a globalist, ideological agenda has embedded itself inside state institutions, from the police to the classroom to the council chamber.
Why? Because DEI has become a sacred cow in newsrooms. To question it is to risk being labelled – and labelled people don’t get airtime.
But, out on the street, people see the change. Frontline cops feel it. Veterans are worried. And communities are being let down.
Integrity, Not Ideology
When underqualified recruits are pushed through to pad numbers or tick political promises, it’s not just dishonest: it’s dangerous. A new recruit doing the same job as a 20-year veteran, without the same toughness or judgement, puts everyone at risk.
If two marginal recruits end up on a job together, who carries the weight when things go wrong?
It’s not fair on them. It’s not fair on the public.
Fixing It Means Facing the Truth
If we want to restore trust in the badge, we have to be honest about how this happened and why it’s still being hidden.
Here’s what needs to happen:
1. Reinstate strict, merit-based recruitment standards with no exceptions.
2. Remove DEI ideology from the recruitment process: capability must come first.
3. Demand an internal and independent review of how discretion was abused.
4. Call out media that refuse to investigate the ideological causes behind institutional decline.
This is more than a police story. It’s a warning about what happens when ideology replaces truth and when the fourth estate becomes a PR department for the establishment.
