Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
Work smarter with a Pro licence Learn More
Parliament

Gordon Campbell | Parliament TV | Parliament Today | Video | Questions Of the Day | Search

 

Crime: More About Prevention than Detection

Rt Hon Winston Peters
New Zealand First Leader
10 September 2014

Upper Hutt Public Meeting
Wednesday 10 September, 10.30am


Hutt Gables, 1094 Fergusson Drive, Upper Hutt

Crime: More About Prevention than Detection

We can all remember when the doors to our homes and cars, if we had one, were never locked.

Those days are long gone, with changes in society and a much bigger population.

Many of us have been the victim of a burglary. We have experienced that sinking feeling after discovery ransacked cupboards, upturned drawers, and our home in disarray. It’s simply an invasion of privacy.

It takes a long time to get over.

Sometimes the police catch the burglar, sometimes they don’t. And, sometimes, we don’t even bother reporting the incident.

Why? Because often the burglar is not caught or there aren’t enough police to attend every call.

That’s not the fault of police, it’s the fault of a National government and their failure to fund police enough adequately for the tough job they have.

In nearly six years of government National has not directed any more money towards the police – despite the fact that our population is soaring. They went further in the last budget, and actually took $40 million from the police budget.

That’s why they go to extraordinary lengths to convince you crime is dropping.

Fudging the books

This National Government focuses its resources on fudging crime statistics.

Remember they were caught out fiddling the books in South Auckland.

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

Are you getting our free newsletter?

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.

Their latest trick is to encourage police to issue warnings instead of charging those they apprehend.

No arrests. No convictions. The result is lower crime figures.

Just ask any criminal lawyer and they’ll tell you it’s happening.

There was a streaker at the last All Blacks game and despite the fact she interrupted the game at a critical time, to the dismay of the players and the All Blacks management she got off with a warning. One more crime statistic not recorded.

New Zealand First wants an independent audit of crime statistics to get to the truth.

We want this to be ongoing, to keep the government of the day, of whatever persuasion, honest.

Binge drinking

We want to reduce binge drinking, it’s got out of hand, ruining the lives of our young people. It’s alarming.

And it is causing serious anti-social and harmful behaviour in many communities.

New Zealand First will make it an offence to be drunk or drug affected in a public place or while trespassing on private property, to a degree that could cause serious harm to themselves or someone else.

This law will provide penalties of up to $2000, or up to three months in prison.

Under funding

As mentioned the National Government has been plain mean over police funding.

Look at the situation in rural New Zealand.

News reports a few months ago showed that one on-call officer is often the only police contact for hundreds of kilometres in the Waikato.

Police are stretched so thinly the countryside is virtually unpoliced overnight.

If there is an incident, this one lone officer may have to drive for hours to the scene.

That’s just plain ridiculous and everyone involved is at risk.

Anyone who questioned this was told it was a new model. Why would police be adopting such a risky new way of doing their job? The police themselves spoke out, over concerns for the safety of their colleagues.

Underfunding has caused other cut backs. In Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne sworn police numbers were reduced and support staff trimmed.

National has closed police stations, like Otahuhu and Papatoetoe.

But Prime Minister John Key is untroubled.

His answer lies in smartphones and tablets, which he claims will do the job of any policeman.

When this new technology was issued to 6000 police he said it was the equivalent to adding 345 police to the force.

Sorry, we are not convinced.

Let me ask Mr Key this. How do smartphones and tablets do the work of a police officer trying to prevent crime?

It’s worth noting that the police oath states: “I will to the best of my power, keep the peace and prevent offences against the peace.”

New Zealand First wants more focus on prevention.

Police should be involved in identifying risks and putting prevention measures in place.

That means talking to a lot of people, getting involved in the community.

Let’s get back to this level of policing. It makes no sense to spend millions mopping up at the other end of crime, with long running investigations and court cases and ultimately filling our gaols with offenders.

Our police force should be resourced to prevent crime before it happens.

There is a better way. New Zealand First’s way, which you recall between 2005-2008, was to get 1000 extra police to the frontline.

National’s way has been to fudge the books, cut police and under resource the force – that’s a tragedy for police morale and for all of us.

Just as they have done with defence they run the services down which is a serious risk for our personal and national safety.

New Zealand First wants the police strengthened. We want to work towards matching police per 1000 people, as happens in Australia.

It makes common sense.

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
 
 
 
Parliament Headlines | Politics Headlines | Regional Headlines



Gordon Campbell: On Dune 2, And Images Of Islam


Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture tends to be hostile to Islam when we’re sitting in the dark, with popcorn.
Any number of movie examples come to mind, beginning with Rudolf Valentino’s role (over a century ago) as the romantic Arab hero in The Sheik...
More


 
 


Government: One-stop Shop Major Projects On The Fast Track

The Coalition Government’s new one-stop-shop fast track consenting regime for regional and national projects of significance will cut red tape and make it easier for New Zealand to build the infrastructure and major projects needed to get the country moving again... More

ALSO:


Government: GPS 2024: Over $20 Billion To Get Transport Back On Track
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has released the draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport, outlining the Coalition Government’s plan to build and maintain a transport system that enables people to get to where they need to go quickly and safely... More

ALSO:

Government: Humanitarian Support For Gaza & West Bank

Winston Peters has announced NZ is providing a further $5M to respond to the extreme humanitarian need in Gaza and the West Bank. “The impact of the Israel-Hamas conflict on civilians is absolutely appalling," he said... More


Government: New High Court Judge Appointed

Judith Collins has announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister Jason Scott McHerron as a High Court Judge. Justice McHerron graduated from the University of Otago with a BA in English Literature in 1994 and an LLB in 1996... More

 
 
 
 
 
 

LATEST HEADLINES

  • PARLIAMENT
  • POLITICS
  • REGIONAL
 
 

InfoPages News Channels


 
 
 
 

Join Our Free Newsletter

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.