Police Claims Highlight Need For Inquiry

Tuesday 19 Oct 2004

Dr Muriel Newman - Press Releases - Crime & Justice

Claims by the police, that they decided to send a taxi in response to Iraena Asher's emergency 111 call, raises serious concerns about the enormous pressure that police are under and highlights the urgent need for a full independent inquiry into this matter, ACT New Zealand Deputy Leader and Police Spokesman Dr Muriel Newman said today.

"While police say this decision was a judgement call, the public needs to be reassured that Labour's constantly mounting pressure on police time and resources has not led to a compromise of police standards," Dr Newman said.

"New Zealand's police are among the world's hardest-working. Yet Labour has given them no respite, forcing them instead to bear the brunt of Government failure and carry a load that is not their own. This is having a serious impact on the police's ability to do their job - which is to keep law-abiding citizens safe by combating rising violence and drug crime.

"In fact, the Government's failure in its law and order responsibilities is so worrying that police sources now inform me that core policing often falls by the wayside, as police are required to fulfil other duties.

"It shouldn't be the police's job to bear the brunt of Labour's incompetence: Labour, not police, ignored officials' advice to plan for rapidly increasing prison populations. And it is Labour, not police, that ring-fences new officers for traffic policing and sets traffic fine quotas.

"The police's response in ordering a taxi for a distressed woman's emergency 111 call has now raised serious doubts about their capabilities and judgement. It is imperative that Police Minister George Hawkins commission a full independent inquiry into this matter, in order to restore public confidence in the police," Dr Newman said.

ENDS

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