GRANT COWARD: "I think that the key word here is frustration - with budgets, the judiciary, new systems in place alienating the community and traffic taking precedence over everything."

Recently retired Detective Senior Sergeant Grant Coward has lifted the lid on why police officers are leaving in droves.

The 57-year-old took early retirement last week after a 28-year career with the police. He said his decision to leave highlighted a trend that has seen more than a dozen staff, many with more than 20 years experience, quit in his district, New Plymouth, in the past year.

Coward said officers were feeling disheartened with the dramatic changes that had taken place in the past 12 months.

"I think that the key word here is frustration - with budgets, the judiciary, new systems in place alienating the community and traffic taking precedence over everything," Coward said.

"It is a frustration shared by frontline staff."

Coward said he didn't want to sound disgruntled but believed the public had the right to know what was happening.

Law enforcement was being run like a business, which has seen the majority of calls to police now being taken in centralised call-centres, which could result in a public backlash, he said.

"One of my key concerns is that we could potentially not have the community on our side when we are investigating a major crime."

Coward, said the community was effectively responsible for solving crime.

"Detectives are clever at what they do, talking to people and gathering evidence, but who do we gather the evidence from - the public. If we haven't got the community engaged with us, then I think we may as well pack up and go home."

Coward said a drop in the crime rate was not as it appeared.

"It's not the drop that they think it is because it's a drop in reported crime, it is not a drop in crime."

He said many victims of crime were no longer reporting it because of the process they had to go through.

"I think it's because of these new systems that they've put in place, the crime reporting line, people think 'oh I can't be bothered with this'."

Coward said further budget cuts and belt-tightening could result in crime rates increasing.

"I understand that there is a recession and things are tight, but policing is a necessary service, just like health and education, but you can't keep cutting back even though reported crime is down - things can creep back up again."

In a written statement, Central District commander Superintendent Russell Gibson said as an organisation police had to adapt to the changing environment and provide a service fit for purpose.

Gibson said latest crime statistics showed a significant drop in recorded offences.

"There were more than 30,000 fewer offences recorded in 2012, compared with the previous year," he said.

"In the New Plymouth area, there was a 10.7 per cent reduction in recorded crime over the same period, resulting in fewer victims and fewer crimes."

Gibson made no comment about the number of experienced staff leaving the police and concerns crime was going unreported.

He said police operated in a business-like way, keeping communities safe.

"Just like other government departments, we are funded through taxpayers' money.

"This means we must continue to ensure that we are spending this money wisely to provide the best service to the communities we serve."

Gibson said the latest independently run citizens' satisfaction survey, of 10,000 people, showed 77 per cent had trust and confidence in police.