Crime Victim? Who ya' gonna call - Pizza Man?

"Four cars damaged and $7,000 worth of property stolen in one street, in one night, in an Auckland suburb, and the victims told to 'fill in a form' at the local police station! This is an utterly outrageous situation," says an outraged Robert Palmer, Libertarianz Spokesman for Law and Order. "When 'hundreds' of police are targeting so-called 'boy racers' and chasing ticket-issuing-quotas for seat-belt infringements and the like, it seems that real crimes are now to go ignored." He recites a list of further, similar outrages:

- Man with an eye-witness report to a hit & run queues for 30 minutes, only to eventually be told he should go to the Post Office and get the details of the offending vehicle himself. - Man whose tools had been burgled, and who had the address of the thief, was told by police to 'sort out' the situation himself. - Warren Gamble in the New Zealand Herald (18.05.03) further reports 'good news' - "a woman burgled three times in a month in Drury last year said the police turned up quickly each time, dusted for fingerprints." Good news? When many people only see the police to get a crime number for their insurance, it probably is! - And insurance? The Insurance Council estimates that criminals cost New Zealanders $20 million each month through stolen goods. That is $240 million plus GST added to our insurance premiums every year!

The Commissioner of Police notes that "there always has been and always will be a need to prioritise service delivery." In an era when we can get a pizza delivery to our home quicker than we can a policeman, Palmer calls for the Minister to remind the Commissioner that the core function of government is not to 'prioritise' the rule of law, it is to maintain it.

Rampant street crime in our largest city is not responded to, due to lack of resources. Those resources, it seems, have been sent elsewhere: to collect revenue from us through ticket quotas and the like. "The truth is," says Palmer, "that our police force spends more time doing us over than it does protecting us." He notes that the Governor-General's web site correctly observes: 'Legitimacy is the foundation of civil peace and the order that is maintained by the rule of law.' "Too true," concurs Palmer. He concludes, "unless the present horrendous situation is rectified immediately, the Governor-General must exercise her Reserve Powers and demand the resignation of the Prime Minister and her band of hand-wringing Ministers!"

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