Goff Tries to Mislead Public Again

Friday 30 Aug 2002

After cynically misleading New Zealanders with dodgy crime statistics during the election campaign, Justice Minister Phil Goff is now trying to blame the police, ACT Police Spokesman Dr Muriel Newman said today.

"Mr Goff is now trying to say that the police force was responsible for misleading, "provisional" crime figures that he and Police Minister George Hawkins released before the election. That is blatantly untrue.

"The police force has never, ever released "provisional" statistics before. Opposition MPs ask constantly for month-by-month crime statistics. The police has always refused because - as we have been told in answers to parliamentary questions - this information is "subject to change", it is "unreliable" and "no conclusions" can be drawn from anything other than "the official police statistics" released yesterday.

"The Police Minister and the Justice Minister deliberately took advantage of incomplete data that showed what they wanted to show, rather than the truth. Mr Goff called the figures "reliable" and said they "put a lie to the claim of spiralling violence".

"In doing so, Mr Goff and Mr Hawkins misled New Zealand in order to win an election. They cannot now evade responsibility by blaming the police," Dr Newman said.

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