ISSUE
Friday, August 22, 2025
Volume 16 . Issue 73
Before we start blaming the police for inaction or the rise in crime, particularly in Auckland, let’s analyse what has happened in the last 3 to 5 years.
The police commissioner admitted 2 years ago that a total of 30 police stations had to be closed down however 15 new police stations were opened which means the taxpayer faced a net deficit of 15 police stations.
My question was how much was the savings made in dollar terms by effectively closing 15 police stations?
The answer: “We do not hold that data”. I was also told that the police now have smartphones and ipads to tackle crime.
What we do know and the small business owners know is that crime by youth has increased many-fold. Our information from official sources is: Youth crime has increased by 71 per cent.
There currently are 71,000 New Zealanders between the age of 15-17 years old who are not in education, employment or training. Many of them are from broken families, without any hope or direction. A large number are likely to get into trouble with the law. They will, when they get a chance, barge into a dairy, a liquor store or a petrol station and rob a hard-working New Zealander and more likely hurt them while doing so.
Our Youth Education, Training and Employment (YETE) bill aims to tackle this issue by providing a pathway for 15-17-year-olds to enter the NZ Defence Force. The roles they will fulfil are non-deployable, non-combat roles with weapons handling only for drill purposes, thus falling under the “limited service” category.
The participating youths will be housed by the Defence Force while learning vocational skills, numeracy and literacy and instilling discipline. Upon completion of the course, the participant will earn a qualification thus helping their prospects of finding full-time work.
Recently, the police minister announced an ad-hoc payment of a maximum of $1500 for shop owners who wished to “reinforce” their security systems. A concerned shop owner went to the extent of building a protective grill around his counter. It should be the criminals who should be behind bars, not the law-abiding, hard-working small business owners!
Before we start blaming the police for inaction or the rise in crime, particularly in Auckland, let’s analyse what has happened in the last 3 to 5 years.
The police commissioner admitted 2 years ago that a total of 30 police stations had to be closed down however 15 new police stations were opened...
Before we start blaming the police for inaction or the rise in crime, particularly in Auckland, let’s analyse what has happened in the last 3 to 5 years.
The police commissioner admitted 2 years ago that a total of 30 police stations had to be closed down however 15 new police stations were opened which means the taxpayer faced a net deficit of 15 police stations.
My question was how much was the savings made in dollar terms by effectively closing 15 police stations?
The answer: “We do not hold that data”. I was also told that the police now have smartphones and ipads to tackle crime.
What we do know and the small business owners know is that crime by youth has increased many-fold. Our information from official sources is: Youth crime has increased by 71 per cent.
There currently are 71,000 New Zealanders between the age of 15-17 years old who are not in education, employment or training. Many of them are from broken families, without any hope or direction. A large number are likely to get into trouble with the law. They will, when they get a chance, barge into a dairy, a liquor store or a petrol station and rob a hard-working New Zealander and more likely hurt them while doing so.
Our Youth Education, Training and Employment (YETE) bill aims to tackle this issue by providing a pathway for 15-17-year-olds to enter the NZ Defence Force. The roles they will fulfil are non-deployable, non-combat roles with weapons handling only for drill purposes, thus falling under the “limited service” category.
The participating youths will be housed by the Defence Force while learning vocational skills, numeracy and literacy and instilling discipline. Upon completion of the course, the participant will earn a qualification thus helping their prospects of finding full-time work.
Recently, the police minister announced an ad-hoc payment of a maximum of $1500 for shop owners who wished to “reinforce” their security systems. A concerned shop owner went to the extent of building a protective grill around his counter. It should be the criminals who should be behind bars, not the law-abiding, hard-working small business owners!
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