Simon Power
National Party Law & Order Spokesman

1 July 2006

Labour’s traffic ticket denials exposed

The Labour Government has been caught out deceiving the public over the existence of traffic ticket targets and competitions, says National’s Law & Order spokesman, Simon Power.

“Finally we have the evidence of a system that this Government said did not exist.

Mr Power says a leaked police ‘Central District Highway Tasking Sheet’, which shows that traffic police have ticket targets and competitions, proves Labour has been deceiving the public for years.

The sheet, dated 21 June 2006, says in an instruction to staff: ‘Tactics: There is no special plan for tactics this week. But as it is the last week before the end of the accounting year for us it is a great opportunity to get our ticket count up to ensure we end up as the top group in Central. I suggest that you liaise with all the working units and organise 3R’s in areas with high volume traffic flows.’

“This is clear evidence that Labour has been covering up the target system and proves what the public has suspected all along.

“The most outrageous part of this is that it is clear they are sending traffic patrols to high traffic-flow areas to meet those targets – not to accident black spots.

“The Government have been telling the public targets do not exist – that this is not a revenue-gathering exercise – but that is obviously not the case.

“That is a disgraceful use of resources and I look forward to an explanation from the Police Minister."

Ends

Attachment: Highway Tasking Sheet

http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/0607/Highway_Ticket_targets.pdf

© Scoop Media