Parliament has given a third reading to the Policing (Cost Recovery) Amendment Bill, which will come into force on the day after it receives the Royal assent.
The legislation amends the Policing Act 2008 to enable the making of regulations allowing the Police to recover costs for policing services that fall within the definition of a "demand service".
As defined in section 79B of the new legislation, "demand service" is a service that constitutes policing, is provided only on the request of an individual or organisation, and is provided to the individual or organisation requesting it and is of direct benefit to that individual or organisation (even though provision of the service may also be of indirect benefit to the public as a whole).
The definition specifically excludes the response of the Police to calls for services relating to potential offending, the conduct of criminal investigations, and the prosecution of criminal offences.
Section 79B(3) states that an example of a demand service "is the provision of vetting services by the Police".
Police Minister Judith Collins says the Police Vetting Service is facing significant growth, with demand having increased by over 100,000 vets since 2012/13. She says Police are being asked to vet over 500,000 people a year.
Ms Collins says regulations will now be made to set a small charge for vetting checks by the Police.
She says Cabinet has agreed that regulations will set a fee of $8.50 per vetting request to cover the actual and reasonable costs of the Police Vetting Service.