lines up

Good to see some action beginning around the up and coming election this year. Firstly though - Greg O'Connor the retired Police Association president courted by Labour, for Ohariu. Now lets try that sentence again the way I really want to write it. Greg O'Connor? - the retired Police Association spokeperson?? courted by Labour???, for Ohariu????. To me the icing on the shit cake was this

Labour leader Andrew Little has confirmed discussions between the party and former Police Association president Greg O'Connor - saying O'Connor "lines up perfectly" with Labour's calls for better police resourcing.

 Yep, well, he wants to arm police

Police Association President Greg O'Connor has long warned that police are dealing with an ever-increasing number of armed offenders and says the latest incident comes as no surprise.The former officer once took an adamant stance against guns, but now acknowledges times have changed.

and this was telling too

"Believe me by next year, I believe it will be an election issue the political parties will be climbing over each other trying to get policies changed."

hmmm nice prophecy greg - looks like with labour you may have an opportunity to  "get policies changed".

For me greg has been too hardline, too willing to always back the police. I don't care that he is the cousin of an existing Labour MP, and I don't care that he may get a 'free-ride' against peter dunne if labour's plan to get the Greens to not run against their man works. I do care that O'Connor has extreme 'police' views and ex police officers are not the best MP's in my opinion.

translations of funny

You've got to laugh - I've never looked up policeman on the excellent Māori Dictionary but it has all changed now into a more 'accurate' description lol.

NZH

Lee Baker, who moved to New Zealand from Britain 11 years ago, said the sentence showed a disdain for authority and could be misconstrued as police-bashing.

Original
pirihi
(loan) (noun) policeman, police.
Ki te kitea te pirihi, he kawe tamana mai, warena hopu tangata ranei, ka kikia atu te kumu, ka pakarutia te warena, ka panaia atu ia.
If a policeman is seen bringing a summons or an arrest warrant, he'll be kicked in the backside, the warrant screwed up and he'll be thrown out. See also pirihimana.

New
pirihi
(loan) (noun) policeman, police - word now obsolete.
Ka mau aua tangata i nga pirihi, a kei roto aua tangata i te herehere i naianei.
Those men were caught by the police and they are in prison now. See also pirihimana.

It is great Lee that you are teaching your children te reo Māori, well done! But the original was funny and the response from the police to this is also very funny

A spokesman said, "While such comments are unhelpful, the police strongly value their relationship with Maori and our focus continues to be on building positive relationships with tangata whenua through our work in communities across the country."

That's a real "yeah, nah" on that one police spokesperson.

police state obvious

Anyone who knows anything knows that Māori get targeted by the police. The release of the latest police statistics shows that, not only are Māori youth being apprehended more in most categories but, they also have more prosecutions against them. Think about that, what a terrible indictment upon a group of young people in our country and for no reason other than the way they look - because sure as hell they won't be checking whakapapa records will they.

JustSpeak have released the following excellent infographic where the picture tell a thousand stories of hardship and discrimination.

Good on them for putting the data out there in such an understandable way. The hard data is compelling too I recommend you go here to read the numbers of apprehensions which have alarming consequences for young Māori. In general more get apprehended and more definitely get prosecuted - that is a double whammy right there. The sickest thing is, guess who gets blamed for this - that's right young Māori do. And sometimes to spice it up they blame all Māori. 

The real blame is hardly ever attributed to the correct place, but as Anthony Robins points out in Poverty Watch on The Standard when describing the Office of the Children’s Commissioner (OCCC) 2012 report “Child Poverty in New Zealand evidence for action" - the truth doesn't pull any punches.

"OCC report pulls no punches at all.

Mäori poverty needs to be considered against the backdrop of colonisation. Recent research documenting the experiences of Mäori whänau living in financial hardship notes that any analysis of the financial and material deprivation of whänau is incomplete without understanding Mäori economic development pre-colonisation, and the impact of land confiscation and war (Baker K., et al., 2012). The alienation of land and resources saw the loss of a cultural, spiritual and economic base (Cram, 2011). It has had a long-reaching impact that continues to shape attitudes towards Mäori in New Zealand. The devastating effects of racism and discrimination in health and elsewhere have been well documented (Reid, 1999; Robson & Harris, 2007; Mills et al., 2012). The legacy of colonialism has been the ‘differential distribution of social, political, environmental and economic resources and well-being within this country with Mäori bearing the brunt of disparities in many areas’ (Cram, 2011, p156)."

No one is suggesting that we go back in time to right the wrongs that occurred there - we can't, but we can move forward and to do that requires a few changes. The big one is that Māori have to be trusted. The evidence is that we are a long way away from that today. The destruction caused by young Māori being targeted by the police by apprehension and then getting prosecuted more, is felt within all Māori communities and this country feels it too. It is too foolhardy to believe the police attitudes will change any time soon, they won't. They are a reflection of the Government attitudes to Māori. Will middle NZ change - I don't think so, they may adjust their cushion but that's about it from them. No, the change has to come from Māori and people who support the kaupapa through belief in equality, whānau, love or for whatever reason we support the kaupapa, that is where the change has to come. We must talk loudly about this injustice against these youth, the mana must be reestablished for our rangatahi.

mad, bad and sad

Evidence can be a terrible thing. We know that Māori and pasifika peoples are more likely to come to the attention of the police and now we also know that they get tazered by the police a lot more than others - how much more?

NZH

ETHNICITIES
During the 11 months to August 9, police tasered 88 people including:
* Maori: 35
* Pacific Islanders: 16
* Europeans: 35
* Asians: 1

The introduction of Tasers was bitterly opposed by the Maori Party and the Greens with the Maori Party's Hone Harawira and the Greens' Mr Locke both raising concerns their use would reflect police "racism". Mr Locke yesterday said the latest statistics raised a number of issues about the weapons. "Certainly they're being fired disproportionately at Maori. The reasons for that are something we should look into."Mr Locke was also concerned that police were too quick to use Tasers on people with mental health issues - 58 during the 11-month period.

Mana Party spokeswoman Annette Sykes said that despite Mr Harawira's warning "there has been this disproportionate outcome for Maori and Polynesian individuals which is a sad indictment on us".

But police and their minister, Judith Collins, say the figures merely reflect the "sad fact" that Maori are over-represented in crime statistics.

Yes it is a 'sad fact' but what does that fact mean and where does it come from. For collins it means add more police, more weapons, more jails and more arrests but those responses do not address the issue. There is fundamental institutional racism at play here - and if you know that there is an issue and you choose to ignore it then you are actually supporting it. Governments know about this issue, highlighted by these tazer statistics, and have not addressed it because it does not suit their agenda to. They prefer this situation and you may wonder why - blame is one reason, it is always good to have a group to blame for things and the distorted history of this country offers the indigenous people as an established blameworthy group, as happens in many colonised countries. It is not us, it is them - it is those 'others'. To fix this situation requires more than a band aid.

I am sick to death of our people getting tazered and arrested, fingerprinted even though they have no conviction, and put in prison. I am sick to death of this institutional racism and the compounding effects of the Crowns continuted ignorance of their role as a true partner to Māori. We need to change some things and change them fast. Politically I am putting my faith in Mana - they will put a stick in the spokes to stop this and create opportunities to work on solutions. And I see constituitonal change as being essential.

you have are and will always be bad

Good work by Rahui Katene, Maori Party MP for Te Tai Tonga in voicing good opposition to the secret Bill that fixes - that since 2008 it has been unlawful for police to retain identifying particulars of children and young people who have been through the youth justice system and subjected to a penalty less than conviction. This is not just about fixing that loophole. The secrecy apparently was so that no young person could take the Government to court. Labour did the deal with the gnats and The Maori Party, Chris Carter and The Greens opposed it today.

We know that Māori youth are arrested more and that part of this is due to racial profiling. Below-conviction-threshold options like family group conferences and restorative justice are there because they work and provide alternatives for rehabilitation. These young people have made mistakes but they have not breached the conviction threshold and therefore should not have their fingerprints and photos taken and stored in some database. 

Rahui is speaking strongly here

Our focus – in raising the questions we have – is to bring to the House the opportunity to talk about youth wellbeing rather than simply promoting yet another forum for politicians to talk about the perils of youth; and the need to hold the fingerprints of youth who have been admonished by a judge.

I would really recommend that Members look carefully at sections 283 (a) to (n) of the Children, Young Persons and their families Act. These provisions – for children to be admonished; for young parents to attend a parenting programme; for young people to attend a mentoring programme – are now provisions for which the fingerprints and photographs of these young people are kept.

And I would suggest in particular that Mr Hipkins looks at this detail – that these orders from a very good piece of legislation were always intended to focus on child and youth wellbeing – not fodder for this Policing Bill.

I have been greatly disappointed by the nature of the debate today which has tried to close down discussion on the impacts for youth and instead focus on the mistakes of the statute.

This Bill may appear to just be about a tidy up of some legislation but it really is about how we treat our youth, particularly Māori youth. You can see why many feel let down and alienated. This personal identifying information is kept even though they have not received a conviction – this is just wrong. I mean, what next? - just take the information at birth - you know, for the greater good. It doesn’t take much to connect the dots from this type of harassment to the high Māori youth suicide rate. The issues have to be faced up to instead of degrading the debate and focusing it on the technicalities. 

Our youth deserve more than platitudes and empty words. We have real issues because of how this society is constructed - this materialistic, individualistic approach based on capitalism is empty and dry - if you add in colonisation and patriarchy it can barely sustain life. It is our job to create the world for our children, not their job - blaming youth is pointless, stigmatising them is vindictive and counterproductive. We can make it better for our youth - it takes community and people, it takes culture and aroha. It takes listening.

Good on The Greens, Chris Carter, and The Maori Party (and I assume Mana as Hone’s proxy is still with the Greens I think) for opposing this and shame on Labour. The gnats have shown that money is their big driver yet again.

captain arrested

The arrest of the captain of an indigenous owned boat, whilst exercising customary rights of fishing within tribal waters, by the NZ Police with the assistance of the NZ Navy, in defence of petrobras is nothing short of outrageous and wrong. They are defending the expoilters against their own people.

Elvis Teddy, the captain of San Pietro, the iwi owned boat, has been "charged with operating a vessel in unsafe manner under section 65 of the Maritime Transport Act." The charge will be defended and it will be interesting to watch the crown case fall apart.

NZH

After repeated warnings the three other boats moved away but the San Pietro stayed and deployed buoys and fishing lines in the path of the survey ship, causing "grave safety concerns" for the ship's master, Superintendent Bruce Dunstan said.

The San Pietro was stationary and 1.5 nautical miles from petrobras's Orient Explorer. It is the repeated warnings bit that they don't like, nevermind the law of the sea. This escalation is a bad sign - for the authorities - it shows they are floundering, it shows they are desperate and it shows us what we must do - support this action and the people on the water in any way we can.

Hone has come out with a strong statement

MP Hone Harawira is calling the arrest a disgrace. Harawira says no New Zealander challenging the right of a government to deep sea oil drilling should have their own warships come speeding over the horizon to arrest them.

Good stuff Hone, and

The San Pietro belongs to East Coast iwi Te Whanau a Apanui. The iwi say they were exercising their customary right to fish in the area. Independent Te Tai Tokerau MP Hone Harawira is furious at the arrest. Mr Harawira says it is a disgrace Defence Force personnel helped arrest the man yesterday. He says it is wrong for a New Zealand citizen to be threatened by the military for opposing a deal between the government and a foreign oil company.

Mr Harawira believes it is a make or break situation for the Maori Party, and he is urging the party he left recently to walk away from National.

This is very good - the leadership and mana of Hone is really starting to shine. And we will need strong leadership to stop these expoilters.

thresholding

I support the Maori party and opposition parties call for firearms not to be kept in all police cars. Who will get shot by them disproportionatley - Maori that's who - guns in all cars means more shootings and more maimings. 50% of males in jail are maori and 60% of females are maori and they got there after their inital contact with the police. We have seen the horrible shooting of a young man - and with more firearms in police cars, the chance of it happening more often is dramatically increased.

From Voxy

"The Maori Party said Ms Collins had acted hastily by indicating support for guns to be routinely carried in police cars."

"The police have not even completed their report on the idea and already the minister has jumped the gun," said MP Te Ururoa Flavell.

He said his party saw the introduction of a mass rollout of guns in police cars as an extreme action which rapidly elevated New Zealand's position along the "continuum of indicators of violence".

"This year, New Zealand was ranked for the second year in a row as top of the 2010 Global Peace Index -- 1st out of 149 nations. This is a ranking we should be proud to protect. It represents a culture of peace which we should be looking to preserve," Mr Flavell said.

He feared normalising the use of guns would lower the bar about what was an appropriate threshold for responding to problems.

Good arguments there - well done. Unfortunately i seem to have been taken off the maori party press release email list - can I go back on please?

The report is still to come in and I hope that it recommends other options than putting firearms in police cars. I have left the almost last word to minister collins

"I'm the minister who goes to see police officers when they're shot and in hospital and goes to see their families when they're killed. I'm not prepared to sit around and say 'well lets worry about offenders'. Actually I'm more worried about our police officers."

Thank you for your honesty, on your head be it.

police shame

It really is difficult to get your head around. That the police would have 108 child abuse files sitting around gathering dust for a couple of years and meanwhile the brave people that made the complaints, that forced themselves to seek help - have been left without any help at all. What a terrible plight those people have gone through and are still going through today as the cases are only now being followed up.

From NZH

"Wellington police had been working to ease the backlog with a special operation, investigating more than 100 files since December and making 30 arrests."

When are we going to realise that arresting and putting people away in jail is not the answer. We need to look at the causes of this situation. Why is this happening?

The truth is we need to fix the foundations of this country up. That will support tangata whenua and also support everyone else. We won't fix this issue unless we look deeply at the cause - and the cause is partly due to injustice that permeates our society - from it's formation to today.

Update from Stuff

"In the Wairarapa, 108 cases were unallocated, files were uninvestigated on average for five years and, in some cases, victims lived with their alleged abusers all that time."

"Wairarapa's top police officer and a senior detective are facing possible disciplinary action over the mishandling of child abuse files."

"The IPCA found there was also a backlog of child abuse cases in Rotorua and Westport."

An average of five years - resign - you have let everyone down.

aussie police email shocker

This story, from aussie, about widespread passing on of extreme racist and pornographic emails, within the victorian police force, is very disturbing and as bad as it gets. From SMH

"Up to 100 officers are being investigated and could face the sack for sharing the emails, described by Chief Commissioner Simon Overland as "disturbing and gross", on work computers.

A series of racist and pornographic emails shared among Victoria Police officers are too shocking to ever be released publicly, the state's police chief says.

The most serious email shows an ethnic man being tortured.

"It is extremely serious, it’s offensive, and my view is that it would cause significant concern and alarm in the community if the material was made public," he said.

"If the Victorian public were aware of the nature of that material, I believe that it's of such a nature that it would cause significant concern within the Victorian community."

Mr Overland said some of the emails are so serious that they raised real questions about a number of individuals' suitability to continue with Victoria Police.

"We're not talking about one item, we're talking about multiple items," he said.

Whew! Officers made comments on the emails before passing them on and so far one officer under investigation has committed suicide.

Our own police aren't clean in this regard, by any measure, and I hope they take this wake up call from across the ditch seriously and root out the sickos within their ranks here.

maori and greens the future

They will take your DNA

The maori party are saying that young maori men - who for some reason are over represented in the police statistics will resist this move. The move to take DNA, without consent or a judge saying it is okay.

"From 2011, the police will be allowed to take DNA samples from anyone they intend charging with an imprisonable offence.

Consent will not be needed, and samples will be able to be taken without judicial approval."

Resist this move - got that fucken right!!!!!

Why resist it?

"Britain had the world's largest database; it held the DNA of 75 per cent of young black men compared with 22 per cent of white men, Ms Katene said."

The same will happen here. Maori will be on their database while the big crims - the ones who rip off millions, like the banks and energy companies - will just happiliy truck along.

How about DNA-ing all white collar crims. All the rip off artists - instead of targetting petty crims.

Too hard and doesn't fit within the pre-concieved ideas of who crims are - does it?

"the bill was passed into law on a vote of 108 to 13, with the Greens and Maori Party opposing."

The future is maori and greens.

Good information at Tumeke