Rt Hon Winston Peters

New Zealand First Leader

Member of Parliament for Northland
1 SEPTEMBER 2016

Minister Collins Has Crims on ‘Tag And Release’

The 11.9 percent increase in burglaries is entirely predictable with Police Minister Judith Collins overseeing policing like a fishing contest – tagging and letting them go, says New Zealand First Leader and Northland Member of Parliament Rt Hon Winston Peters.

“The government has been in denial about the level of crime, instructing the police to issue warnings instead of making arrests, and resorted to manipulating the numbers with ‘new methods of reporting’. But it’s not working, they can’t disguise the figures forever.

“New Zealanders know because more and are being affected – in the past year over 11,000 more Kiwis have been a victim of an offence.

“The National Party promised to maintain the number of police and they haven’t; numbers have dropped as our population has grown by over 400,000 since National has been in government.

“Nine out of 10 burglaries are unresolved nationally. In Northland, 97 per cent are unresolved. That’s massive failure.

“There aren’t enough police. We checked. For example, in Northland, over four consecutive Fridays and Saturdays in December/January this year only seven polices station of Northland’s 22 had more than one police officer on continuous duty. And that is peak holiday time.

“The Minister says she’s talking with the PM about police numbers. The PM insists crime is falling – it’s all just talk.

“New Zealand would have 1800 new police trained and ready as soon as possible to try and get us on parity with Australia’s ratio of police to population.

“This must be done because under Minister Collins criminals know – crime pays in New Zealand,” Mr Peters says.

“How does Mr Key explain his answers in Parliament on 10 August, given the latest crime figures?

Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I agree with the Deputy Prime Minister that crime rates are going down, because that is a statement of fact. I agree with the Minister of Police when she says that we are investing in, and will continue to invest in, and support, police officers. I do not agree with Mr Peters when he says the crime rate is going up, because he is palpably wrong.

ENDS

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