Return Respect To Police

Recently released figures showing that frontline police are being attacked more often are a clear indictment of the Labour Government's soft approach to crime, ACT New Zealand Police Spokesman Dr Muriel Newman said today.

"The justice system cannot work effectively when the Government ensures that criminals' chances of being caught are slim, sentences are ludicrously light and prisons are more like holiday camps than penal institutions," said Dr Newman.

"Police already have a tough job to do - yet Labour has made it even harder. Its tightening squeeze on police funding has hamstrung police. The less effective police are able to be, the more bold criminals become.

"These figures, which record more than 2,100 assaults on police last year, show that offenders no longer fear or respect police. There is little risk of being caught and crime does pay.

"The Government must give police the resources and the mandate to adopt a zero tolerance approach to crime. A better equipped police force, sentences that fit the crime and tougher prisons are the three building blocks of an effective justice system.

"The Government must abandon its politically correct, soft-on-crime approach. Only then will police be able to effectively stem the rising tide of crime," De Newman said.

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