To Observe & Defect

PRESS RELEASE Libertarianz Law & Order

To Observe & Defect

"It's now confirmed: we have a police force more dedicated to doing us over than to protecting us from criminals," says Libertarianz Law & Order Spokesman Robert Palmer, following news that police were too busy 'breathalysing and revenue collecting' on an Auckland motorway to stop a criminal driving past them in a stolen car after robbing a service station.

After witnessing the vehicle scatter pedestrians on a Ponsonby footpath, an Auckland security guard followed the stolen car for almost half-an-hour while talking to the Police Operator - who advised him to sit and watch the villains rob a service station because no police units were available. He then followed the criminal as he drove past a police 'booze bus' where a large number of those absent 'police units' were 'employed' collecting revenue from the public.

An incredulous Palmer notes that Superintendent John Lyall seems pleased that the first Police car arrived at the scene of the robbery one minute after the incident, and that a lot of 'inquiry work' is now being carried out at the Avondale station to find the offenders. Palmer however is not pleased. "Blather about 'inquiry work' is not good enough," he says. "A criminal was handed to the police on a platter, and they were too busy going through the pockets of honest citizens to do anything about it. For too long our police have been required to place revenue collection above their proper police duty - which is protecting us from criminals. Now we have an example of that calumny that even Blind Freddie couldn't ignore. Let us hope that the Police Minister can see the light."

"Superintendent Lyall's excuse that staff committed to 'booze bus' tasking could not be 're-tasked' to serious criminal activity in Auckland city - even if that criminal activity is taking place in front of their own eyes - is surely grounds to sack the superintendent," says Palmer. "In his line of work, no pulic admission could be more obscene. It is now clear that the police's priority is now to fill the coffers of government, not to defend the public against criminal attack."

Palmer concludes by calling on the Police Minister to immediately change the priorities of the Police force so as to make protection of the public from criminals their first, and only, priority.

ENDS

For more information contact Robert Palmer LIBERTARIANZ Law & Order Spokesman Phone 021 635 701 Email: rpalmer@xtra.co.nz www.libertarianz.org.nz

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