According to new Police Minister Tolley, cutting $360 million over the next three years is “managing within your budget” and somehow means more frontline staff and more crimes solved. Not cutting staff and closing police stations. Errr…
Red Alert
Posts Tagged ‘police’
Plea from a victim
Posted by Raymond Huo on October 22nd, 2010
Two weeks ago I was asked by a Chinese constituent to make an open plea to the Police Minister to help an Auckland family who are living in a constant state of fear after suffering eight burglaries over the past three months.
I’m still yet to hear a practical response back from the Minister as to how she intends to deal with this situation, but now I have another plea, and this one is for the public.
In the latest burglary, the family had their hard-drive stolen. The hard-drive contained all the family’s photos. The majority of the photos were not printed or saved anywhere else, so the family has effectively lost their entire family photo album.
The price of this cannot be put into dollar terms, and is of absolutely no value to the person that stole it from the house.
Based on some comments from my previous blog on the case, one commentator suggested that this is a police “operational matter”. If this is true it is unlikely we will get any practical response from the Police Minister (how nice it is to be Minister of Police!).
Neither, as another commentator pointed out, will the police have time to attend the any possible future robbery because “it’s not unusual for citizens to wait three or four days for a response from police when the crime is non-violent”.
It appears to me that the only option left to recover the hard-drive is to reach out to the offenders with this plea.
The family have stressed to me that stolen photos are especially special to them as they include the only pictures of their son from when he was born through to his first days at school.
They have suffered fear, anxiety and torment from the spate of burglaries and the return of the hard-drive would help heal the wounds of the hurting family.
Here is the link to the original blog: http://blog.labour.org.nz/index.php/2010/10/08/plea-for-help-to-the-police-minister/
Plea for help to the Police Minister
Posted by Raymond Huo on October 8th, 2010I 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
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?
Keeping the peace
Posted by Phil Twyford on August 25th, 2010Kiwi cops play an increasingly important role in our foreign policy. They are working alongside diplomats, aid workers and peacekeepers in Afghanistan, Timor Leste, Bougainville (in PNG), Tonga, and in the Solomon Islands.
I was in the Solomons recently in a UN election observer team and caught up with some of the 35 New Zealanders deployed there on six month stints. They are part of a bold experiment in post-conflict state building, helping the Solomons get back on its feet after years of civil conflict.
Keeping citizens safe is the first duty of the state but in 1999-2003 things went bad in the Solomons. Ethnic tensions turned violent and the local police force splintered along ethnic lines with some personnel joining in the fighting. RAMSI, the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands, was deployed in 2003 with police and defence personnel from NZ, Australia and other Pacific nations charged with getting rid of the guns and keeping the peace.
The police-led mission was remarkably successful at restoring order. However the regional aid effort has found it more difficult to make progress in getting the economy growing or strengthening government. As well as contributing police, New Zealand is leading an excellent multi-donor aid programme helping rebuild the country’s primary education system.
The regional mission is unusual: invited in by the Solomon Islands Parliament but exercising an extraordinary level of influence on the government with foreign advisers in key line ministries. Few people in the Solomons, locals or expats, think RAMSI could pull out tomorrow without the country facing problems. Yet Solomon Islanders rightly want to control their own destiny, and the donors don’t want to keep pouring such large amounts of aid in indefinitely.
Meanwhile on the streets of Honiara, Kiwi police are backing up the local police, advising mostly and taking action when needed. The Kiwis I spoke to were up for the job and full of sympathy for their counterparts but told me how lack of basic equipment makes it difficult for Solomon Islands police to do their job. How would you feel being asked to sort out crime incidents without vehicles, boats, radios, truncheons or handcuffs?
I saw RAMSI police on the streets of Honiara, and on the outer islands. I was impressed by the way they went about their work and got on with the local community. The Solomons faces hard development challenges and it is not clear how soon its regional partners will be able to withdraw with confidence. In the mean time our police are great ambassadors and helping deliver what Solomon Islanders want most: peace and security.
Kiwi cops serving with the Regional Assistance Mission: (from left) Pauline Jones, Dean O’Connor, Brendan Thomson, PT, Michelle Seager, Aaron Bunker.
The right to protest
Posted by Chris Hipkins on November 21st, 2009Last week there was a bit of coverage in the Dom Post about a court case that I have been involved with over the last 12 years. It relates to a student protest at Parliament back in September 1997 when I was still a fresh faced first year uni student.
The protest was against the then National government’s tertiary education reforms, outlined in what became an infamous ‘Green Paper’. We were a rowdy bunch, but the protest was peaceful. We’d only been in Parliament grounds a short time when the then Speaker, Doug Kidd, issued trespass orders requiring us all to leave.
At the time I thought this was pretty outrageous and over the past 12 years I haven’t changed my view. Parliament is a place where all Kiwis can come to protest, whatever their message. The idea that trespass should be used as a means of silencing dissent appals me.
Thankfully both the District Court and the High Court shared that view and the trespass charges didn’t stick. But there was an important principle at stake here and over the past 12 years I, along with a few of the others, have been keeping a legal action going against the Speaker and the Police.
That case has finally been resolved with letters of apology being issued from both the Speaker and the Police. Monetary compensation has also been awarded based on how long each person was detained, how they were treated whilst in custody and whether they were strip searched at the Police station.
The case is now studied by law students. It promoted a change in the way both the Speaker and the Police treat those protesting at parliament. The principle that every citizen has the right to protest in parliament grounds is now well established. It was worth the fight.
Nats vote against civil liberties, as usual
Posted by Charles Chauvel on October 15th, 2009Parliament is in the process of passing the Criminal Investigations (Bodily Samples) Amendment Bill. It would allow the Police to take DNA samples when they arrest anyone.
I can see the possibilities for better crime prevention in this proposal. But I’m troubled by the lack of any checks and balances in the Bill. A similar English law was set aside by the European Cout of Human Rights on that ground, and the Attorney-General has certified that the NZ Bill breaches the NZ Bill of Rights Act.
I put an amendment up tonight, further to a Labour caucus resolution, that would have required the Police to get a warrant before taking DNA. I reasoned that if they need a warrant to search a building they should need one to apply literal physical compulsion to a person. They don’t have problems finding a JP to grant these warrants so I don’t think getting one to take a DNA sample would be an administrative problem. And we’d have Bill of Rights compliant legislation.
The Greens, Progressives and Maori Party voted with Labour for the amendment. Peter Dunne voted against. So did ACT (so much for being “the liberal party”). And so did the Nats, without really bothering to say why. I guess they think it will play well out in talkbackland.
The Nats adjourned the House before we got to my other amendment – a requirement that Parliament review the operation of the law within 5 years. But it looks like they’ll vote that one down too when we get to it next week. I hope I can be in the House for it. But instead I’ll probably be in the Finance and Expenditure Committee, working through what is becoming pretty much a universally-condemned Emissions Trading Amendment Bill. Sigh.
Not a good day for civil liberties.
Jim was the man, Judith didn’t figure…
Posted by Clayton Cosgrove on September 15th, 2009When Ministers in the previous Labour government opened new buildings or conferences, it was their custom to acknowledge National Party MPs who had made a special contribution to the event or opening. Not to do so is small-minded.
Police Minister Judith Collins consistently shows herself to be just so small-minded. That doesn’t worry me personally, but I was absolutely gobsmacked on Friday when she opened the new Christchurch South police station, and failed to mention the immense debt this new building owes to the advocacy of Progressive MP Jim Anderton over a decade and a half. Instead, Collins trumpeted the new building as proof of National’s commitment to police and policing. National had nothing to do with this new station except as de facto purchasers of the ribbon Judith Collins cut. The station was planned and funded under Labour, but inspired by Jim Anderton’s tireless support.
Judith Collins was incredibly ungracious. The police and public around the country have come to expect that, but Jim Anderton deserved better. Perhaps this picture of Jim and former Minister Annette King turning the first sod at the station site helps redress the balance.
Stand up for your classmates
Posted by Trevor Mallard on September 7th, 2009This is another of those posts that I have left for a while before putting it up.
Why didn’t the young people in the Lynfield classroom act like the kids at Hutt Valley High School did a couple of years ago when their school was invaded.
They protected the young man who the invaders were seeking and used vastly superior numbers to front up to and stare down the invaders who as it turned out were much nastier characters than those at Lynfield.
Might not be politically correct advice but effective.
Also gives a clear message that schools are not places to bring outside disputes.
And btw the practice of a few schools of employing security guards to patrol grounds has to stop. If things are that bad call the Police. We don’t want to end up like some places in the States where security guards seem to take over senior teachers’ discipline roles.
Update on Brash email investigation – English worried
Posted by Trevor Mallard on July 22nd, 2009Police have upped the ante this week in the investigation into the Brash emails. People are being interviewed and some previously interviewed reinterviewed. Like most I hope they get the culprit.
Here are the comments on that post.
Update #1: The number of police working on the case has gone from zero to at least ten. They seem to be focusing on specific times when they know hard copy material was sent from the Nats’ offices.
Update #2: Observers say interviews scheduled to take five minutes are taking over twenty.
Police merger about-face
Posted by Chris Hipkins on July 7th, 2009I was very pleased to learn this afternoon that the police have abandoned plans to merge the Upper Hutt and Lower Hutt police districts. This came as a bolt out of the blue (if you’ll excuse the pun) when it was revealed by way of a leak to the Upper Hutt Leader earlier this year. It seemed completely at odds with the government’s pre-election rhetoric about focussing on frontline policing.
Over the course of the past few months I’ve been helping to organise a petition opposing the proposed merger. Over 8,000 people signed it. We then had to endure quite a lot of buck passing about who should receive the petition. Judith Collins refused to have anything to do with it as it was an operational matter (doesn’t seemed to bother her when it comes to telling the police what to do in South Auckland) while the Police Commissioner refused to accept it because he said it was a political matter. Finally the Commissioner agreed to receive it. Despite the buck passing it had the desired effect.
Peter Dunne and Rodney Hide should take note of the strong public opposition to the proposed police merger. It got people pretty angry and yet I think it would pale in comparison to the response they’ll get if they try to force the merger of the two Hutt Valley local authorities (or force a Super City on the whole Wellington region). Dunne has said he wants a Wellington Super City by the local body elections next year while Hide has said he thinks the Auckland model should be rolled out around the country. They are both ministers in the Key govt. In the absence of anyone contradicting them, we can only assume that’s govt policy!
The Melissa Key Guide to Crime Busting
Posted by Annette King on May 14th, 2009- Build a motorway – the more lanes the better.
- Direct all criminals (from areas you want to insult) to travel on the motorway preferably with signs on their vehicles saying “CRIM-IN-TRANST” to help Police identify them.
- Chose an electorate as far away as possible from the place you want to win as the destination for the mobile crims.
- Have all off-ramps removed to ensure a smooth flow of crims to chosen destination.
- Dedicate one lane as an expressway for crims who own cars.
- Dedicate one lane for a busway for crims who don’t have cars or haven’t stolen one yet.
- Increase public transport concessions for crims who are prepared to travel during off peak times to carry out their crimes.
- Encourage car-pooling of crims to cut down congestion and reduce the carbon footprint.
- Build motorways which cut through communities removing hundreds of houses thereby reducing the number of homes that can be burgled.
- Get a TV production company to make a video of your success in reducing crime.
- Avoid the PM at all costs because although you were once his “chosen candidate” he now thinks your crime busting ideas are silly.
- Avoid the good people of South Auckland you have labelled as crims.
