THE FAMILY PARTY

www.familyparty.org.nz

Richard Lewis

Leader

12 Sept 08

Senseless cop killing inevitable

The senseless execution-style murder of a serving police officer is heartbreaking. Regretfully, it will come to many as no surprise because meth labs and tinny houses have continued to proliferate our neighbourhoods unabated.

Could it take this tragedy to shake government out of its stupor?

Because preceding the Mangere murder was the brutal shooting of a man on his Papatoetoe doorstep and the cold blooded killing of a boy outside his home in Manurewa. Drug dealing and the P epidemic underpin countless acts of mindless violence, much of which goes unreported. But because these particular victims didn’t happen to be a serving police officer, government barely flinched - concerned more with their own survival of the political kind. 

Recent proposals involving banning gang patches and merging Serious Fraud with Organised Crime demonstrate the level of sheer ignorance that is our current government. Banning patches will help gangs take their business of drug dealing further underground. Merging Serious Fraud and Organised Crime will achieve against gangs what merging the MOT with Police did for fighting crime… absolutely nothing.  

Gangs exist for one purpose: to deal drugs in return for money or services, including prostitution. The victims are our children and anybody else vulnerable and foolish enough to indulge. The victims are also their families, friends, co-workers, employees, employers and clients.

The solution: It’s time to draw the line in the sand. Drug dealing is the soft-underbelly of organised crime and that’s where law enforcement needs to aim their sights. Give the police what they need to fight the war on gangs and drugs, which is the people, tools and laws to do it. Partnering police with army could be one way to achieve the numbers and the muscle. After all, this is a war we are fighting in our own back yard. And we’re losing badly.  

Make the punishment outweigh the benefit for dealers and manufacturers. No bail. No parole. Underneath it all, we must restore strength to families and demand of fathers to take responsibility for their sons and daughters. Families hold the key because our kids are the ‘supply,’ which is creating the demand.   

A 'cop killing' is the diet of a younger generation fed daily by media, music, movies and video games. They’re probably the least surprised or concerned of any of us. Because in their minds, it’s normal.

Richard Lewis is a former South Auckland police sergeant and is the leader of the Family Party
 
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