A call for urgent change in the police response system to robberies
It will be surreal to expect that all those who attended last week's public meeting where community leaders, police and Members of Parliament had met together on Sunday, May 8, to discuss the rising incidences of robberies and assault would have come out of the meeting with a sense of satisfaction.
After all, it is not every day that one in the community sees Members of Parliament of all political parties, along with other Members of Parliament especially from the regions in Auckland widely perceived to be the biggest victim of aggravated robberies come together to delve into the situation.
Therefore, the confusion or bewilderment or the sense of exasperation as experienced by many after the meeting was much expected.
However, it is to the credit of Crime Prevention Group and the movers behind this group to have brought together such a battery of community leaders, Members of Parliament and the police on one platform.
At least, this will drive home to lawmakers the seriousness and sense of frustration within the small business owners who are at the forefront of rising incidences of assault and robbery in the community.
The meeting was on expected lines with shopkeepers continuing to put forward demands for heavy penalties for resellers of stolen goods, the right for shop owners to defend themselves and a larger police presence on the streets.
Sunny Kaushal, the president of the Crime Prevention Group exclaimed, "Each day begins with fear [of facing an assault at work]."
David Yang, representing the Chinese community in the meeting emphasised "the urgent need for lawmakers to review and toughen the laws against offenders."
The lawmakers responded around their respective party lines.
The National MPs blamed the dysfunctional families, the Labour and the Green Party blamed the increasing poverty and growing gap between rich and poor as the cause driving young offenders.
Act Party identified tobacco tax, and the NZ First added: "increasing population" as what they believed as the factors propelling the incidences of aggravated robberies.
Another point of divergence among political parties was around the "actual police numbers on the streets. While the National Party seems to reiterate about their recent $500 million investment in increasing police numbers, the NZ First still wanted 1800 police recruits.
The Labour Party, apart from continuing to pledge 1000 new recruits emphasised on "community patrols" and the opening of closed police stations in the community.
However, despite these visible divergences in responses of Members of Parliament towards the incidences of crime, one consolable convergence in this election year was on "the plain acknowledgement of the increase in crime" by one and all.
Almost everyone, from the National Party in the government to the Labours, Greens, Act and the NZ First conceded the recent spurt in attacks on shopkeepers and retailers, which in itself is a good outcome from the meeting.
An honest acknowledgement of the problem is much needed to necessitate immediate remedial actions.
Expectedly, the meeting has some high tensile moment when Act leader David Seymour and NZ First's Winston Peters chose to engage in a casual war of words about describing the severity of the problem and proposing remedies to them.
Given that, both Act and NZ First are known to have limited presence within the ethnic communities such a display of passion and temper was unsurprising.
It's another matter that the NZ Herald had recently reported after the event that NZ First's influence in the ethnic Chinese community is on the rise.
It is important to note that the recent spurt in incidences of aggravated robberies has coincided with the election year, which gives communities and action groups like crime prevention group best chance to be heard by the lawmakers and authorities.
Against this backdrop, some more concerted actions can be expected in the near future from the crime prevention group, at least until there is a marked change in the numbers of aggravated robberies or there is an immediate change in the current “police response system” to the incidences of robberies.
It will be surreal to expect that all those who attended last week's public meeting where community leaders, police and Members of Parliament had met together on Sunday, May 8, to discuss the rising incidences of robberies and assault would have come out of the meeting with a sense of satisfaction.
It will be surreal to expect that all those who attended last week's public meeting where community leaders, police and Members of Parliament had met together on Sunday, May 8, to discuss the rising incidences of robberies and assault would have come out of the meeting with a sense of satisfaction.
After all, it is not every day that one in the community sees Members of Parliament of all political parties, along with other Members of Parliament especially from the regions in Auckland widely perceived to be the biggest victim of aggravated robberies come together to delve into the situation.
Therefore, the confusion or bewilderment or the sense of exasperation as experienced by many after the meeting was much expected.
However, it is to the credit of Crime Prevention Group and the movers behind this group to have brought together such a battery of community leaders, Members of Parliament and the police on one platform.
At least, this will drive home to lawmakers the seriousness and sense of frustration within the small business owners who are at the forefront of rising incidences of assault and robbery in the community.
The meeting was on expected lines with shopkeepers continuing to put forward demands for heavy penalties for resellers of stolen goods, the right for shop owners to defend themselves and a larger police presence on the streets.
Sunny Kaushal, the president of the Crime Prevention Group exclaimed, "Each day begins with fear [of facing an assault at work]."
David Yang, representing the Chinese community in the meeting emphasised "the urgent need for lawmakers to review and toughen the laws against offenders."
The lawmakers responded around their respective party lines.
The National MPs blamed the dysfunctional families, the Labour and the Green Party blamed the increasing poverty and growing gap between rich and poor as the cause driving young offenders.
Act Party identified tobacco tax, and the NZ First added: "increasing population" as what they believed as the factors propelling the incidences of aggravated robberies.
Another point of divergence among political parties was around the "actual police numbers on the streets. While the National Party seems to reiterate about their recent $500 million investment in increasing police numbers, the NZ First still wanted 1800 police recruits.
The Labour Party, apart from continuing to pledge 1000 new recruits emphasised on "community patrols" and the opening of closed police stations in the community.
However, despite these visible divergences in responses of Members of Parliament towards the incidences of crime, one consolable convergence in this election year was on "the plain acknowledgement of the increase in crime" by one and all.
Almost everyone, from the National Party in the government to the Labours, Greens, Act and the NZ First conceded the recent spurt in attacks on shopkeepers and retailers, which in itself is a good outcome from the meeting.
An honest acknowledgement of the problem is much needed to necessitate immediate remedial actions.
Expectedly, the meeting has some high tensile moment when Act leader David Seymour and NZ First's Winston Peters chose to engage in a casual war of words about describing the severity of the problem and proposing remedies to them.
Given that, both Act and NZ First are known to have limited presence within the ethnic communities such a display of passion and temper was unsurprising.
It's another matter that the NZ Herald had recently reported after the event that NZ First's influence in the ethnic Chinese community is on the rise.
It is important to note that the recent spurt in incidences of aggravated robberies has coincided with the election year, which gives communities and action groups like crime prevention group best chance to be heard by the lawmakers and authorities.
Against this backdrop, some more concerted actions can be expected in the near future from the crime prevention group, at least until there is a marked change in the numbers of aggravated robberies or there is an immediate change in the current “police response system” to the incidences of robberies.
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