The Economist has a great article looking at the American propensity to deprive their citizens of their liberty for trivial offenses. We have the same stupid political ratcheting here that causes it. A large part of that is fueled by groups like the Sensible Sentencing Trust. There needs to be a broad agreement across the political spectrum about such hysterical groups before they cause more damage.
In the shadow of recent police shootings we are being presented with the idea of increased police access to firearms as a virtual fait accompli. I’m opposed to the proposal. It won’t make the police any safer, and it will put the public at risk.
This week, the Government slammed through the Policing (Involvement in Local Authority Elections) Amendment Bill. It lets Police stand for local elections under the same rules as other public servants. It’s an issue that deserves to be debated. Instead, it was rushed through by this government in yet another shameful act of disregard for transparent government and active democracy.
The Police should never have been given the power to take DNA off anyone they arrest. It should be handled by an independent group and only on conviction. Letting the Police take DNA off anyone they arrest gives them too much incentive to bend the rules, and that seems to be happening with Police pressuring people they haven’t even arrested into giving over their DNA.
When things got too hot Cameron Slater called on Daddy to save him. John Slater rushes in to say to cops shouldn’t be charging his son who has been getting his 15 minutes of fame exploiting sex abuse victims. The Nats think the rules don’t apply to them (cf. Heatley, English, Bennett, Jim McClay…). The law’s for keeping the poor in line, not the rich, they reckon.
Now this is pretty damn funny and just adds to todays absurdities over the waste of money on rugby world cup TV in 2011. Veteran Springbok Tour protester John Minto has found himself at the centre of a new Eden Park storm, with a controversial plan to name a nearby $3 million road after him.
Will the supercity transition authority now want to stop community boards from naming streets?
An ugly side of the Right, one that a lot of people thought was long defeated, has reemerged in recent weeks. Yesterday we had David Garrett’s ‘sterilise the poor because they might become criminals or breed criminals’ and last week we had arguably more disturbing comments from Judith Collins about how she wanted to restore “fear” of the Police.
Crime is not, as Judith Collins seems to think, evil people doing evil things that can be repressed by ever greater state violence. Deterrence doesn’t work because crime, especially violent crime, is not a rational outcome of weighing costs and benefits. A crime policy that doesn’t reduce crime isn’t really a crime policy, it’s a con.
BLiP puts his distinctive view on why the police have been losing “the respect of the community” with one of his locally famous lists. He attributes it to ‘Crusher’ Collins and wonders why John Key is cluessly fronting PR wanting stronger sentences for disrespecting police.
It was probably well intentioned – and to be fair we don’t know the full facts yet – but on the face of […]
No Right Turn has a post about the weirdness of the police forces in Britain at present. Elements of our own police force […]
UPDATE 14/01 – my Summary of Facts My only charge is still obstructs police – seemingly because I refused to comply with an […]
As lprent has already posted: I was arrested today for chanting on a megaphone. This is the third time I have been arrested […]
John Darroch called today to inform me that the police were starting to round up and arrest protesters, and that they had three […]
Idiot Savant at No Right Turn points out that the police (once again1) are violating the law surrounding protest and dissent. The post […]
Photograph: Christian Charisius/Reuters Earlier in the year there was a lot of media attention on the police tactics at the G20 Summit in […]
I hadn’t been to a protest in months. After everything I’ve been through, activist stuff tends to make me more than a little […]
A media release yesterday from the Justice NOW collective! shows how both police and corporate spies are still taking a major interest in […]
I’ve never been the biggest fan of Clayton Cosgrove, but he’s sure got ‘Crusher’ Collins running scared on her cuts to police vehicles. […]
Simon Power talking on Q+A on Sunday showed a abysmal ignorance about how matters operate in his own portfolio. He blamed lawyers and […]
The Ecologist Film Unit’s second release documents how espionage, news manipulation, legal threats and even violence have become the knee-jerk response of Government […]
Despite being remarkably quiet throughout a spate of serious police controversies, Police Minister Judith Collins has finally risen to the challenge of leadership […]
The Economist has an fascinating article “Rioters of the world unite“. It is partially about the demonstrations, protests, and outright riots in Athens […]
The Economist is one of the few main stream media that seem to be flourishing in the days of decline for most media […]
On ABC last night there was a excellent video “Animal rights campaigner spreads message“. It is worth watching for people who (unlike me) […]
There is a slowly emerging twist in police spy scandal. The question of incitement and provocation from an agent of the police. Bearing […]
Let us assume, for a while, that Broad didn’t know the detail of SIG’s activities with Gilchrist If his staff were doing their […]
Matt McCarten, head of the Unite Union, has just released emails showing police informant Rob Gilchrist gave the police spy unit details about […]
Bill Ralston usually gets stirred by posters at The Standard for what he says. I’ve generally liked him after seeing him give some […]
Gordon Campbell raises a good question in his latest Scoop column – are the Police also using paid informants to spy on mosques? […]
On discovering that her boyfriend had been spying on her and her friends for the police, and the consequent violations of her expectation […]
Yesterday, Howard Broad made statements about the targets of the SIG (Special Investigation Group) to National Radio. Interview with Howard Broad on his […]
Aside from all the democratic, political and moral issues raised by the Police’s behaviour, there is a fundamental lack of humanity in their […]
No Right Turn has written in his cogent style on the police spy issue. With the kind permission of No Right Turn, I’ve […]
Nothing is quite as important to a democracy as activist groups that engage in peaceful protest for change. In the past these are […]
National has a press release out blaming Labour for a supposed increase in assaults on police. Now, there are more people and more […]
