The Police Association says a fall in prosecutions doesn't mean a fall in crime.
The number of people charged with non-traffic offences has halved since 2009.
Herald analysis has found between 2017 and 2022, the total number of people charged and convicted for all offences dropped by a quarter.
That number fell at an even faster rate under the National governments of Sir John Key - and rose the most under Helen Clark's Labour administrations.
Association President Chris Cahill told Tim Dower people don't feel as safe as they did 10 years ago.
He says frontline cops say there's certainly more visible crime than 10 years ago.
LISTEN ABOVE

Kevin Putt: Former Springbok previews the final Greatest Rivalry test between the All Blacks and Springboks
02:18

Leon Panetta: Former Defence Secretary and CIA Director on the US-Iran war
08:17

Graeme Edgeler: Constitutional law expert on an MSD review which found more than 30-thousand cases, where benefits and payments were wrongly suspended
04:04