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Archive for the ‘law and order’ Category

Thought provoking visit to Arohata Prison

Posted by Carol Beaumont on July 18th, 2011

As Labour’s Women’s Affairs Spokesperson I visited Arohata Women’s Prison with my colleague, Labour’s Justice Spokesperson Charles Chauvel, this afternoon.  I have never been in any prison before in any capacity and I have to say the visit has really got me thinking.

I wasn’t sure what to expect but one thing I can say is that anyone who calls a prison a holiday camp or a luxury hotel has got it completely wrong.  The facilities were basic and functional.

After a warm Maori welcome we were shown around the prison.   The highlight was talking to a group of about twenty five women who are part of the prison’s Drug Treatment Unit (DTU).  The DTU operates a therapeutic community model with a structured programme operating in a community environment with community expecations, community support and evalutions.  Charles and I asked the women to tell us the things that would reduce the chances of them reoffending when they go back into the community and what things might have stopped them offending in the first instance.

I  think the women were pleased and surprised to be asked these questions by MPs and  I was really impressed with the answers.  One area that stood out is that in Arohata the women have an opportunity to learn and to gain qualifications.  This is clearly valued by the women -this was stated by both the inmates and the staff.  They want to keep learning and to use that learning to get jobs and to help their children. 

What is also obvious is the strong desire of the group to deal with their addictions.  Arohata  is the only women’s prison that operates a DTU and so many of the women have had to move away from Christchurch and Auckland women’s prisons and proximity to their families to take part in the programme.   They clearly make the link between violence, drugs, alcohol and their offending. 

The women who spoke clearly want to move forward, to get jobs and to get their children back.  They want to be given a chance by employers.  They are also worried about what support there will be once they leave Arohata.

Some things that were reinforced for me were:

  • we need to focus on the causes of crime and not solely on punishment
  • we especially need to consider whether imprisonment is the best  response to all of the situations people are currently imprisoned for
  • the need for drug treatment programmes in all our prisons and in the community
  • the importance of life long learning opportunities, to name a few

Charles and I have committed to going back and continuing the conversation. We are intending to visit the other women’s prisons too.

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Filed under: alcohol and other drugs, law and order, women
5 Comments

Quinn on rape – he now says he didn’t hear the question – I say he did – twice

Posted by Trevor Mallard on May 27th, 2011

Filed under: Uncategorized, law and order
68 Comments

Chopper Key – it wasn’t the flight it was the cover-up

Posted by Trevor Mallard on May 5th, 2011

Chopper2

 

Chopper

 


My view is that Key is not going to be caught by the use of the helicopter but by the hamfisted attempt on his part and that of Bill English to cover it up.

They knew it looked awful as they were cutting expenditure and attempted to bury it.

Update: for those without broadband, the Hansard is below: (more…)

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Filed under: economy, law and order, national, security
15 Comments

Tell the Government: Don’t Cut Our Future!

Posted by Trevor Mallard on April 27th, 2011

Flyer

t Cut Our Future

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Filed under: ACC, Arts and Culture, Budget, Child Support, Civil Defence, Consumer Affairs, Cost of Living, Green Jobs, Health and Safety, Skills, TVNZ 7, Victims' rights, Working for Families, act party, asset sales, broadcasting, business, children, conservation, debt, disabilities, economy, education, environment, family, finance, food, health, housing, inequality, jobs, justice, law and order, low pay, minimum wage, politics, public services, science, senior citizens, social development, superannuation, youth
21 Comments

BNZ innovative in stopping crime

Posted by Raymond Huo on March 16th, 2011

North ShoreBNZ

BNZ must be congratulated on becoming the first bank in the world to fully adopt SelectDNA spray technology.

As a member of the Law and Order Committee I am constantly looking at ways in which the police, organisations and individuals are combating crime and how citizens can be kept safe.

Employees and customers are put at risk when banks are robbed and I was interested to learn what banks are doing to ensure that their workers and customers are protected.

During a tour of a new concept BNZ branch on the North Shore last week I was impressed by a number of new security initiatives implemented by BNZ, especially the SelectDNA spraying system.

BNZ National Manager of Security and Fraud Owen Loeffellechner explained to me that the system works by spraying robbers with a DNA solution as they flee the bank. The liquid will remain on the skin for up to two weeks and on clothes for up to six months. The DNA solution then glows blue under ultra-violet light. Catching the robbers red, or blue, handed!

The SelectDNA system will be rolled out to all BNZ branches across the country, making BNZ the first bank in the world to fully adopt the policy.

The bank has taken a comprehensive approach to tackle bank robberies which Mr Loeffellechner said is a crime against “people and the community”. He assured me that BNZ views the safety of customers and staff as paramount and they will take every possible measure to prevent robberies.

Since 2006, bank robberies have more than doubled, with 2009/10 recording the highest level of robbery, extortion and related offences on banks since 1994/95.

This is a worrying trend. However I commend BNZ on rolling out the SelectDNA spraying system throughout all their branches. I’m sure this system will be critical in reducing the amount of bank robberies committed throughout the country.

I welcome feedback, ideas or suggestions on how banks can improve their security and ensure the safety of customers and staff. Do you think legislative means are needed to ensure a high industry standard?

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Filed under: asian, bank, law and order
12 Comments

It is time to think longer term on crime

Posted by Trevor Mallard on January 8th, 2011

The Standard’s piece earlier in the week has got me thinking on crime. The Nact government has failed to impact on trends:-

Crime Rate

Number of recorded crimes in year to July 2008: 426,690
Number unresolved: 226,301
Number of recorded crimes in year to July 2010: 441,960
Number unresolved: 229,399

So, not only more crimes (1.4% per capita) but more unsolved too. If Treasury’s optimistic outlook for lower unemployment turns out to be correct, we might expect crime to drop a little next year. But it won’t be due to anything the government has done.

Prisons

Number of people on prison sentence, Sept 2008: 6,231
Number of people on prison sentence, Sept 2010: 6,967

Locking more people up isn’t solving the problem

Law and order

Number of new police promised by Judith Collins and John Key: 600
Number delivered, according Deputy Police Commissioner Viv Rickard: 30

Number of new offences created by National government: more than we could count
Number of cars crushed thanks to Crusher Collins: zero

The danger is that in election year we all get caught up in a “lock them up” bidding war which at one level meets demand but at another just adds another generation to the problem. And building prisons is very very expensive. Money that otherwise be able to to be used for improving health or education or even for a tax system that had lower real marginal rates for middle income kiwi families.

But to do so requires at least a two party agreement. I wonder if Simon Power is up to it.

Filed under: Budget, law and order
40 Comments

Law and Order Select Committee Refuses to Hold Inquiry into the Unacceptably High Rates of Recidivism

Posted by Rick Barker on December 23rd, 2010

Trust us we know what we are doing, was the message from the majority National and Act Party members of the Law and Order Select Committee in declining the request for an inquiry into the unacceptably high rates of recidivism in New Zealand. 

One of the benefits of MMP over the previous First Past the Post system was to be to slackening the shackles of the executive branch of government held over the select committee process facilitating more independence, more scrutiny and to enable the select committee’s to undertake inquiries.  The phrase Washminster was coined by Sir Geoffrey Palmer to reflect a mix of Washington and the Westminster systems, but this is an illusion as the management of the Law and Order select committee demonstrates. 

With no work of any significance next year planned other than the required financial reviews, no bills to scrutinise and ample time to undertake some fresh work, the government National and Act members have used their majority to squash the proposal to inquire into what might be done to reduce recidivism. 

Presumably they believe that either; the Government has all the ideas and we are going to lead the world in best practice with world best results, better than Ireland 39% rate of reoffending compared to New Zealand’s rate of 57%; or alternatively they are apprehensive that the Select Committee’s inquiry could show up their plans as inadequate, causing some embarrassment.

This is the same committee that by majority of National and Act parties refused to allow Labour to make minority report, censorship that a Soviet Presidium would have been proud of; refused Labour’s request to have Ministry of Justice officials advise on Paul Quinn’s bill changing electoral law, they were the experts, with disastrous results by drafting that was to allow serious offenders to vote, the exact opposite of what was intended; the committee regularly cuts down time for questioning officials restricting opposition questions and regularly rejects opposition questions as part of the financial review. 

Muldoonism is alive and well in this government.  

Members of Parliament are elected with the expectation that they use the resources and opportunities at hand to make better law and improve the administration of government activities.  With the second highest rate of incarceration and world leading rates of recidivism New Zealand has an intractable problem. Despite being faced with the obvious and an opportunity to canvas the best advice available, to engage with those who understand the issues and to bring this distilled knowledge and experience forward as much needed cross party plans for improvements to reduce reoffending, this government by majority has slammed the door on opportunity. 

This is not representative democracy in action.

Filed under: law and order
7 Comments

Offending teachers names continue to be hidden – thanks to Key Power and Tolley

Posted by Trevor Mallard on December 18th, 2010

Last Saturday John Key, Simon Power and Anne Tolley voted against an amendment to the Education Act that would have moved to a presumption that teachers who are before the Teachers’ Council Disciplinary Tribunal would have their names published and the power to suppress victims names would be enhanced.

Some recent cases according to stuff :-

May: A married male teacher was deregistered after an 18-month sexual relationship with a 16-year-old female pupil.

June: A married male teacher who had an intimate relationship with a year 8 girl he called his “first true love” was deregistered.

August: A male teacher was deregistered after having a sexual relationship with a depressed 16-year-old female pupil.

October: A female teacher deregistered in Britain was censured in New Zealand for inappropriate sexual conduct with a male pupil and allowing pupils to drink in her home while she was employed in New Zealand.

I’m not sure that publishing names would stop a lot of abusive teachers but if it saves a kid or two then it must be a good thing.

I just don’t understand why the Nats didn’t support it. And as for Act – they have certainly changed since Coddington led the charge against suppression orders. Though we saw that with Rodney’s defence of Garrett.

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Filed under: Teachers, act party, education, law and order, national
42 Comments

Private Prisons- Serco

Posted by Grant Robertson on December 15th, 2010

Further to Damien’s post on private prisons, the choice of Serco was sadly predictable. To be fair when it comes to private prison providers pickings are pretty bad, but Serco is right up there. Serco runs just about anything you care to think of- Light Rail, military support services, schools and health services. And the odd prison or two, in UK and Australia. Check out this video for a summary of their activities.

Several of the prisons are in the UK, where one in particular Ashfield Young Offenders Unit has been labelled the most violent prison in the UK. The Director-General of the UK Prisons Service said in 2002

I considered that the prison was unsafe for both staff and the young people
detained there and that urgent action was required.

Kilmarnock Prison is Scotland, also run by Serco was heavily criticised for its management, including the lack of basic education programmes. There have been reports of very poor treatment for patients, including a pregnant woman.

This of course follows on from the report last year that showed private prisons performing worse than public ones on a range of indicators.

In the end for me this is a matter of principle, but the experience overseas shows that far too often private prisons are associated with poor safety records, cutting corners and declining focus on programmes to aid rehabilitation.

In the course of writing this I came across this quote attributed to our Human Rights Commission. It bears repeating and sums up how I feel.

Punishment is a fundamental state power, carried out by government on behalf of the community. Such a central and significant power should be exercised wholly in the public interest taking into account the rights of all parties (victims, offenders etc) without regard to profit.

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Filed under: law and order, public services
30 Comments

In defence of democracy

Posted by Grant Robertson on December 9th, 2010

Last night Parliament took away the right to vote from a group of New Zealanders. They are a group of people you might not have much time for, those serving prison sentences of three years or less. Some of them will have done some awful things, some of them will have done a large number of minor things, some of them might well be innocent. All of them will return to our communities one day.

I can understand that there will be many people who will say, ‘good job’, and many who did not realise that there were any prisoners who could vote. But I believe that Parliament taking away their right to vote (actually their right to be on the electoral roll) on the basis of a poorly thought out private members bill, passed by a narrow margain is in my view one of the most shameful things I have witnessed in this Parliament.

There is not much that is more fundamental in a democracy than the right to vote, and it was whisked away last night with barely a justification from the government. A government who that very day had announced a constitutional review that had at its heart the need to only make changes to electoral law if there is a good reason and if there is a consensus.

To me accepting the right to vote for people who challenge our values is one of the greatest tests of being truly committed to democracy. Eliminating that right for some people we consider not worthy, as glibly as was done by the government, is to me an assault on democratic values. As the Bill of Rights Act assessment on this bill notes overriding that right to vote (which itself is part of the Act) requires a high test to be passed. That has not happened here.

Beyond that, the Bill is a cruel hoax on the victims of crime and their families. Not one piece of evidence was provided to show that passing this Bill would stop crimes, or reduce re-offending. It will not make New Zealand a safer place. It will not help rehabilitation or re-integration into society. It creates massive inconsistencies (e.g. people convicted of the same crime, one on home detention, the other in prison will have different rights) and it nearly, accidentally, gave the right to vote to the most serious offenders through a drafting error, until Prof Andrew Geddis, pointed out the mistake.

I try not to lose my temper, in Parliament or in life. But last night I was close to it. (My speech is here) Parliament took away a fundamental right from a group of New Zealanders with barely a word in justification, without a word from the Justice Minister or the Attorney General in the debate. The majority was provided by the ACT Party who gave us a 48 second contribution. Democracy, and those who have fought for it here and overseas, deserve better than that.

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Filed under: Attorney-General, Electoral Law Reform, democracy, law and order
56 Comments

Where is Wong?

Posted by Trevor Mallard on November 23rd, 2010

Current rumour is that she is doing a fund raising trip for the Nats out of NZ.

Happy to be proven wrong.

Possibly getting it in before her passport is held by the court system.

Filed under: Uncategorized, law and order, national
27 Comments

Prisoner Voting UK Style

Posted by Grant Robertson on November 3rd, 2010

As Parliament debates Paul Quinn’s ill-conceived private members bill on prisoner voting, the UK government is being forced to go in the other direction. The UK bans voting by all convicted prisoners. The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the blanket ban on prisoner voting in place in the UK is discriminatory and breaches European human rights conventions.

Now its important to remember that in NZ the law as it stands says that if you are in prison for a conviction of more than three years you can not vote. So the arguments around murderers etc do not apply here. Paul Quinn’s bill would see that cover all prisoners in prison on the day of an election, including those on remand. (Actually the way it was re-drafted as Andrew Geddis has pointed out, the Bill actually gives the vote to anyone who is in prison before the Bill is enacted.)

The arguments being tossed around in the UK are of course similar tho those here. You can listen to a slightly odd interview on Morning Report (today, 8.48am) with the former prisoner who took the case to the European Court. Odd because he leaves the interview part way through to answer the door!

We will be back onto Paul Quinn’s Bill next Wednesday. Apart from the drafting stuff up, the bill is a waste of space. As said here before, It will do nothing to make our communities safer, it will not reduce our appalling imprisonment rate, it creates inequities between those on home detention and in prison, takes in people before they are convicted, and will do nothing to support rehabilitation or reintegration. People convicted of crimes of three years or less will be back in society, and we need to try to help them be part of society again, not exclude them from it.

Last word to Juliet Lyon from the Prison Reform Trust in the UK. She said ” people are sent to prison to lose their liberty not their identity.” That is a challenging notion for some people, but it is one that we need to remember if we want to start to reduce recidivism.

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Filed under: democracy, international, law and order
31 Comments

GST fraud foreign student gets home detention

Posted by Trevor Mallard on October 31st, 2010

Stuff reports :-

An Auckland student has been sentenced to five months home detention and ordered to pay reparation of $30,000 for GST fraud, the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) said today.

In a statement the IRD said Bing Liu was caught using dummy companies.

He was sentenced in the Auckland District Court after admitting to 15 charges related to GST returns involving $44,350.

Liu, who is in New Zealand on a student visa, listed himself as a director for 10 companies registered with the Companies Office and filed GST returns for them

Seems weird to me – maybe the judge thought we would get some money back or there were circumstances not reported but I think this is a classic case for immediate deportation. Important to get message to students that they have no right to be here and any crime certainly one of this scale and complexity results in them being sent home.

Filed under: education, law and order
15 Comments

Plea for help to the Police Minister

Posted by Raymond Huo on October 8th, 2010

I was compelled to send a letter to Police Minister Judith Collins after being contacted by a Chinese constituent who lives in Glen Innes, Auckland, yesterday.

As a Chinese-New Zealander, this man may not look or sound like a Kiwi (according to former National Party Candidate Paul Henry’s summation) but his concerns are genuine and need to be addressed.

The constituent told me of his frustration with the police after having his home broken into eight times over the past three months.

The aftermath of a recent break-in

The aftermath of a recent break-in

During September his home was broken into twice in one week with the last break-in on October 1.

The constituent and his family are not only frustrated with the constant break-ins, but also by the response of the police.

On each occasion, the police have taken three and four days to respond and after taking fingerprints and doing a scene examination, no follow up has occurred.

The constituent is unemployed and every break-in adds to the financial pressure on the family. The man tells me that his family are living in a constant state of fear and anxiety.

The family has not only lost property through the burglaries but the house has suffered damage with broken windows, kicked in walls and graffiti occurring through the house.

As a New Zealander and Member of Parliament, I’m horrified that this situation is happening in our country. No one should have to live in a state of fear like this man and his family.

I seek a practical response from the Police Minister as to how she intends to deal with this situation.

It’s almost been two years since the NACT Government came into office on the back of a big law and order campaign – but what have they done to help ordinary Kiwis in that time?

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Filed under: Auckland, asian, ethnic, law and order
27 Comments

National government = more murders

Posted by Trevor Mallard on October 2nd, 2010

Who can forget John Key, Judith Collins, Tony Ryall inter alia blaming Helen Clark for murder rates when Labour was in government.

It was of course nonsense, and I’m not going to suggest Key is personally responsible for each murder in New Zealand, and I’m not going to blame the Police as they did either.

But for the record there were 65 murders in the last financial year, didn’t break the record of 68 in 1996 (when National was in government) but well above average, and the highest figure since that 1996 peak.

Any apology John. Or are you going to take responsibility as you suggested Helen should?

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Filed under: law and order
34 Comments

National/ACT make Quinn prisoner voting law even worse

Posted by Grant Robertson on September 19th, 2010

My good friend Andrew Geddis has delivered a devastating critique of the thoroughly misguided private members bill in the name of Paul Quinn to deny all prisoners a vote (as opposed to the current situation where those sentenced to three years or less can still vote). I have blogged about this before, and the bill was bad enough before it went to the Law and Order Select Committee. Now, amazingly the Bill has emerged from the Committee even worse than when it went in. I should note at the outset that Labour and the Greens are opposing the Bill, and have a minority report to that end.

Andrew is a level headed guy (and in the interests of fairness I should note he has expressed strong opposition to the earthquake legislation) who is not prone to hyperbole. So this paragraph should grab the attention

This proposal is downright wrong in its intent, outright stupid in its design and (if finally enacted) would be such an indelible stain on the parliamentary lawmaking process as to call into question that institution’s legitimacy to act as supreme lawmaker for our society.

As Andrew notes the Bill is against the advice of the Attorney General, and goes against decisions of the UN Human Rights Committee and courts in Canada, South Africa and Australia. It is a silly, hopeless piece of law that will do nothing to make New Zealand safer, and has the potential to make reintegration and rehabilitation more difficult.

But, amazingly, the National and ACT members of the Select Committee have combined to make the law worse. Andrew points out in his article that they are proposing to repeal the current legislative provisions regarding disqualification from voting and replace it with the following wording

“a person who is detained in a prison pursuant to a sentence of imprisonment imposed after the commencement of the Electoral (Disqualification of Sentenced 15 Prisoners) Amendment Act 2010:”

The effect of the repeal and a new clause only dealing with those imprisoned after the new law comes into force would seem to be that someone who is currently serving a term in prison of longer than three years (say Graeme Burton) could register to vote. I am sure National will now change this, but it really does typify what is a ridiculous bill.

There must be some in the National caucus who oppose this nonsense. Perhaps they should allow themselves a conscience vote and join Labour and the Greens in voting down this silliness?

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Filed under: democracy, law and order, legislation
32 Comments

Victims of Crime

Posted by Lianne Dalziel on August 30th, 2010

A very interesting perspective piece in the Herald this morning on the recent debate surrounding meeting the real needs of victims of crime.  I am keen for feedback as I have been doing some serious thinking about this since I posted on the Chief Justice’s speech which raised this very issue.

Filed under: justice, law and order, policy
8 Comments

So what are the DPS for ?

Posted by Trevor Mallard on August 29th, 2010

Hearing that Anne Tolley pleaded for the Diplomatic Protection Squad (DPS) to intervene in the Invercargill creative writing exercise is almost impossible to believe.

These are some of New Zealand’s top cops. Their job is to protect the Governor General, the PM, international political visitors and diplomats when there is a security issue.

It is not their job to run down school kids.

But there is more of an issue with the Nats use of DPS.  And I want to make it clear I’m not criticising them.

It is just the vast numbers that the PM uses. Taking four to Hawaii. Having five escourting him around parliament. Using them as a battering ram around airports. And as personal servants holding his towel in the gym.

Helen had one or sometimes two round parliament. And when we were in UK at the same time she had one.

Of course the PM has to have Police support – but I think that he could do with half the number and real criminals could be caught if the rest of these top cops were turned loose on them.

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Filed under: law and order, national
37 Comments

Monday poll – do you agree with national’s plan to make prisons our biggest department ?

Posted by Trevor Mallard on August 16th, 2010

NZ has one of the highest incarceration rates in the western world. Grant Robertson has posted on the topic today. He wants numbers to drop.

Meanwhile Bill English has revealed that government is planning to have corrections as the biggest government agency.

What do you think ?

National is placing top priority on prison growth and is planning for it to be our biggest government department. I think this policy is -

View Results

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Filed under: law and order, poll
12 Comments

Filling the Prisons

Posted by Grant Robertson on August 16th, 2010

For those that did not see it, this article from the Fairfax papers in the weekend is well worth a read. It explores our appalling imprisonment rate, including some statistics where we dont stack up well at all

New Zealand locks up people at a rate of 199 per 100,000. The European average is about 80. Even Australia, our convict cousin, jails a third less than we do, according to figures from the International Centre for Prison Studies.

As I have said before on this blog, we have to get beyond the response that building more prisons is the answer to preventing crime. Of course keeping the likes of Graeme Burton off the streets is important, but that is not going to deal with the overall issue. I like my colleague Lianne Dalziel’s comment in the article that the basis of questioning around these issues should be “what makes our communities safer”. Continuing to lock people up without addressing the reasons behind how they got to be there will not make our communities safer.

Most would accept that crime is the result of addictions, mental ill-health, a bad start in life, poverty and other social factors, rather than because people are inherently evil, she says. So these are the issues we should be targeting with preventative and rehabilitative measures

There is optimism from those quoted in this article that more people are now prepared to look at the drivers of crime and get beyond the empty slogans and dangerous rhetoric of the Sensible Sentencing Trust/David Garrett types. I hope that is true because another election fought around who can throw out the toughest slogans is not what we need as a country. As Greg Newbold says in the article we need to start thinking in terms of 25 year goals to change a culture of violence, rather than in three year political cycles.

As politicians we have a job to come up with better policies, and that is something Labour is working on, but I also think the time has come for a broad based community grouping that can promote the importance of the long term approach to addressing the causes of crime and breaking the cycle. I for one would help that group in any way I can.

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Filed under: justice, law and order
34 Comments

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