Media Release
17 June 2004

Send Traffic Cops Back To MOT Says New Zealand First

New Zealand First deputy leader, Peter Brown, says changes to the Government transport sector should include transferring traffic police back to the Ministry of Transport.

Mr Brown said today that the experiment of mixing policing with road safety had failed dismally.

“Traffic police are simply revenue gathering officers for the Government and they are seriously affecting the crime prevention and detection work of other police officers.

“Many of the public nowadays view the police with disdain and as a result are becoming less co-operative and in certain circumstances are downright hostile.

“It has been a public relations disaster for police trying to keep a lid on soaring crime rates.

“How can ordinary people have faith in the police when they get a speeding ticket on the way to church but have to wait a considerable time for police to respond when their homes are broken into?” concluded Mr Brown.

ENDS

© 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>>