crime

Fact checkin’: police numbers

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 8:21 am, November 24th, 2011 - 69 comments

John Key said last night the Nats has boosted Police numbers by 600. In fact, 2008, Police numbers have grown by only 442, 5.4%, barely more than population growth. All but 80 of those extra cops came in the 2008/09 year – under Labour’s last budget. Cops per capita has fallen in the last two years. No wonder there are more unsolved crimes.

Spare time

Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 10:30 am, November 18th, 2011 - 21 comments

John Key says that it’s OK for the Police to waste time trying to intimidate the media on his behalf because they have “spare time” with the drop in crime. There were 220,000 unsolved crimes last year including 8 homicides. The cops solved 15,000 fewer crimes than the previous year. Don’t tell me they’re sitting around waiting to do the PM’s bidding.

Unlucky Banks

Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 9:20 am, October 30th, 2011 - 28 comments

Jeez some people just can’t catch a break. Not only is John Banks coming second in an election race to a guy specifically chosen to lose to him but now the word is some scoundrel’s stolen his Harley Davidson.

Angry marine

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 10:39 am, October 19th, 2011 - 14 comments

Marine Corps. Sgt. Shamar Thomas speaks his mind to some New York police. A bit repetitive, but he gets his point across! http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=By8MDDwNIvE

NoRightTurn: SAS prisoners tortured?

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 11:30 am, October 12th, 2011 - 5 comments

When an armed force takes prisoners in a war, they have a responsibility to ensure that the prisoners are treated according to international law – eg they aren’t tortured. Are the prisoners our SAS takes being tortured? The Defence Minister says ‘dunno’. Not good enough. If our soldiers are delivering prisoners to torturers, that’s a war-crime.

John Pagani – a sheltered child

Written By: lprent - Date published: 4:27 pm, September 29th, 2011 - 104 comments

Since I can’t seem to leave a comment on his site to refute John Pagani’s current foolishness on the operation 8 outcomes and ‘evidence’. That is unfortunate because I’ll put it here instead with a wider audience just to please him with a response from a lefty.

NRT: A blank cheque

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 12:25 pm, September 24th, 2011 - 17 comments

No Right Turn points out the salient feature of National’s hysterical response to the Supreme Court’s decision on video surveillance. Reading the blank cheque that they are proposing indicates that the government has no understanding of what “the rule of law” means. It certainly does not include half-arsed measures like this.

Freedom and security

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 9:22 am, August 25th, 2011 - 30 comments

The government is planning a crack down on “organised crime”.  What could possibly be wrong with that?

Just desserts

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 9:26 am, August 16th, 2011 - 68 comments

The private operators of the new Mt Eden remand prison are using desserts as a reward for good behaviour. It seems to work. But the Right doesn’t know quite how to react: on one hand, it’s mollycoddling prisoners, on the other hand it’s a private operator being innovative. Imagine how they would have reacted if the public prisons started doing this.

London riots

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 9:19 am, August 9th, 2011 - 201 comments

There have been two nights of rioting, looting and burning in London.  The trigger was the police shooting of Mark Duggan.  But the cause is the alienation of the permanent underclass, and the stresses of the current austerity programme.

Just resting in his account?

Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 10:30 am, July 28th, 2011 - 9 comments

Did anyone else see the Herald article beginning: “A priest working as a senior executive at the Auckland University of Technology has resigned after “accounting discrepancies” involving hundreds of thousands of dollars.” and think “the money was just resting in my account“?

No? Just me?

Why Key’s opportunism was sickening

Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 9:02 am, July 26th, 2011 - 55 comments

The Right is whining that Key said “If [the Norway massacre] is an act of global terrorism, I think what it shows is no country large or small is immune from that risk and that’s why New Zealand’s played its part in Afghanistan” . ‘IF! Don’t you see, IF!’ Try to get the point, righties. Key opportunistically framed a tragedy for his political purposes.

1981 Molesworth St commemoration

Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 7:00 pm, July 12th, 2011 - 14 comments

I was in the middle of the scrum on Molesworth Street on the night of July 29th 1981 when marchers were batoned by the police. A front-rowers’ collective has organised a 30-year anniversary commemoration at the Loaves and Fishes for Friday 29 July, and invite others to join them for a night of reminiscing and celebrating. Tickets are $15 to cover costs. If you would like to attend contact Paul Tolich 0275 935595 or Sue Ryall 021 380 176.

We All Have Our Vices

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 11:13 am, June 30th, 2011 - 31 comments

Yesterday, Dakta Green was sentenced to 8 months prison on drugs charges arising from The Daktory cannabis ‘dispensary’ that operated openly for 2 years in West Auckland. But what harm was caused to justify denying a man his freedom at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars to the taxpayer? More harm than other small vices?

English – sell dams to buy prisons

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 6:37 am, June 9th, 2011 - 54 comments

So, that’s National’s great big plan: get rid of our electricity assets and use the cash to build more prisons. Not much of a brighter future there. National still hasn’t come up with a convincing reason why we would sell highly profitable monopolistic companies. Instead, we’ve seen a series of weak excuses. Now, English has revealed the truth.