Crime Stats Show Offenders Winning

New Zealand First says crime clearance rates are still appalling and police need more resources urgently.

Law and order spokesperson Ron Mark said that crime statistics released today show that although the rate of crime resolution has risen, the fact remains that less than 50 percent of crimes are solved.

“This only confirms what New Zealand First has always said - we must double the size of the police force,” said Mark.

“The Government is boasting about increased clearance rates but the fact remains that eleven out of every twenty offenders know that they will never be brought to account.

“Also, the true level of crime in this country cannot be measured because in many cases it goes unreported.

“It is time for the Government to stop kidding the public and themselves and do something about it,” said Mr Mark.

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>