Police Minister Chris Hipkins says Parliament may legislate so police can gather young people’s photographs and fingerprints, after a watchdog report deemed the practice illegal.
Hipkins, speaking at the Police Association annual conference in Wellington on Wednesday, said “the pendulum has swung too far” on the issue of privacy rights in light of the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) report.
“I’m absolutely open to change. I do think that intelligence gathering is a core function of police and some of the intelligence gathering that’s happened, as of normal in the past, won’t be possible any more if we leave the IPCA, Privacy Commissioner finding unchallenged,” he said.
“I am concerned that the report, if left unchallenged, will significantly constrain the police’s ability to do their jobs … I wouldn’t take off the table the potential for Parliament to take further action to support the police to do their job.”
NO! NO! NO!
Chippie is completely wrong here!
Look, if the cops believe a child has committed a crime and have enough evidence for that, they can arrest the child, take finger prints and take a photo!
If they don’t have enough evidence to charge a child, well fuck off then! You can’t take their fingerprints and photos just for shits and giggles!
The Police can’t do that to adults, why the Christ would we allow them to do it to Children?
Chippie claims the majority of fingerprints and photographing of children is consensual which I’m afraid is just bullshit!
How can a child consent if they understand their rights?
Police can only take finger prints and photos if the child’s guardian or court appointed guardian agrees, pretending acquiescence without the guardians agreement is consent is an outrageous claim that just doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.
Children require MORE civil rights protections, not less.
What Chippie is agreeing to here for the cops is an enormous erosion of civil liberties for our kids.
His job as Police Minister is to ensure their rights are protected, it’s not to pass laws that make it easier for cops to infringe on their civil liberties!
Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice – please donate here.
If you can’t contribute but want to help, please always feel free to share our blogs on social media
“Look, if the cops believe a child has committed a crime and have enough evidence for that, they can arrest the child, take finger prints and take a photo! ” . That sounds perfectly reasonable and nice but…meanwhile in the real world…
Our youth court has morphed over the years to the point where it doesn’t really matter what the young criminal has done, or the dozens of times they’ve been before the youth court and been found guilty or if they admit guilt, the youth court will dismiss the charges and into the bin go the fingerprints and photographs. Just to give the young crook a 2nd/95th chance, to be a better criminal, it appears! And because youth make up a large proportion of serious crime, what are police supposed to do to solve their repeat crimes when the youth court deny them the very basics of crime investigation and prevention? It’s like the 18th century law enforcement!
Chippy is stuffed here. He is overseeing one of the biggest crime waves ever and his government not only looks complicit but impotent. The problem is the the youth court, not the police.
Not unless you think these criminals should be left to just do their thing and not be troubled by silly things like being caught or facing consequences!
X-ray. Anecdotally, the police are trying to avoid kids getting caught up in the judicial system, for obvious reasons – generally speaking it’s downhill thenceforth. Photos are gathered, archived and destroyed, they don’t have the resources to be hanging onto them for long periods of time, so it’s probably not as problematic as it looks. It’s interesting in terms of private cctv footage; two fourteen year olds who stole a vehicle in the next street and were caught on the owner’s cctv could argue that it was illegal evidence and not admissible.
“they don’t have the resources to be hanging onto them for long periods of time”
The digital world seems to have passed you by.
XRAY ‘And because youth make up a large proportion of serious crime,’ got proof?
‘He is overseeing one of the biggest crime waves ever and his government not only looks complicit but impotent.’ again got proof?
It seem you say a lot of shit without facts!
In May Andrew Coster stated most of the offender’s carrying out ram raids that tormented Auckland businesses were younger than 15.
In July there has been a 400 percent increase in ram raids in five years – and 76 percent of those being caught are under the age of 18.
Two thirds escape prosecution.
We are running about 3 to 5 robberies by ram raids every night.
At least the shootings are less than that at the moment.
Inconvenient “shit” Stephen for apologists like you!
XRAY, So because I scrutinized your assumptions you automatically labelled me with your right-wing virtual signaling an ‘apologist’
Ram raids as inconvenient that is for the shop owners isn’t serious as inflicting serious bodily harm,
And just because an official makes claims without being seriously vetted that isn’t proof of what you’re alleging.
Like I said Xray where is your proof?????
Please Stephen, it’s there but there is no “proof” that would satisfy you, eh? You think catching these creeps would be bad, a win for the gangs. What planet are you on, the gangs are already in the mix, so you are not exactly objective now are you?
And robberies are “inconvenient”? FFS. What are you, the shop steward for criminals?
What is Mr Hipkins role as Police Minister. That is a job description I would like to read. You could argue that his job is to listen to their concerns and lobby his cabinet to ensure they get the money, the people, the equipment and the legal support to better do their job. If he doesn’t do so then who will. Let other Ministers argue the ethics, morality and civil liberty implications of what the police are seeking thru him.
Agree Peter but its still very hypocritical of this identarian loving and morally superior govt.
Part of the Labour death spiral. Law and Order is shaping as a top 3 issue next year and the government have to somehow show that they can fix the mess they created. Watch for schizophrenic law and order policy made on the hoof over the next 12 months.
The Chipster better watch out. If he doesn’t look coherent then the next 12 months could be the beginning of the end of his national political career. Wellington Mayor shapes up as an attractive proposition.
If Labour don’t sort their shit out, pronto, the parties brand will be damaged beyond salvation, so Chippy may as well get a new day job anyway!
I’m in his electorate and after 15 years of my support he lost it about 2 years ago and will never regain it. Be interesting to see how much his support shifts this coming election, will we remain a safe electorate?
In the last fortnight I’ve read a couple of court cases where at sentencing the judges have talked about the lives of the defendants which got them to that particular point.
The ‘mess’ that those people were in – who ‘created’ it? Their crimes in the last couple of years are down to what this Government did? Or didn’t do?
“Fix the mess they have created”. That is a stretch at best. Successive governments have had a hand in creating the current conditions. The likes of ZB and the media in general are certainly doing a good job of making out like crime has somehow just shown up in the last five minutes.
Yes and the people we expect to uphold the law are the very people breaking it and the keep saying sorry and it won’t happen again till next time.
Yep, better to let granny muggers and car thieves and bottle store rammers go free than to hurt the feelings of nice kiddies out on the streets, and the cops can’t tell their ages just by looking at them, and ‘children’ can’t be expected to tell the truth about their age when I don’t, and the kids know that police can’t chase them any more and have better technology smarts than school smarts, and if the police were defunded none of these things would be happening. They should stay in the cop shop and hold prayer sessions like Howard Broad apparently did in the face of satanic cults in Christchurch and terrorists training in the Ureweras and that nipped things in the bud ok without all this technology nonsense, more or less.
Judith Collins went down on her knees in church and she was a Minister of Police, so let the persons in blue all do likewise, and if a few tractors get smashed in the meantime, what the hell, there’s always the social workers and nutty sociologists and shock jocks to solve everybody’s problems – and add to them.
Hollyhock of the Valley ‘terrorists training in the Ureweras and that nipped things in the bud ok’ There wasn’t terrorist training in the Urewera that was just fools playing cowboys and indians and the inquiry into this incident proved that but the massacre in ChCh moque now that grounds for a terrorist attack.
If Labour change this law they will not be getting my vote or my whanaus vote and I am a staunch Labour voter and advocate. I am also not happy with the parent category for immigration. This creates more inequalities and panders to the rich and well paid if they don’t have medical insurance for their elderly parents they should not be able to come here. Labour better get there act together or they will lose most of those Maori seats all but two possibly.
PLUS the possibly sick parents get to use our health system. now no one wants to see people suffer but there IS NO SLACK in our health system.
As a Pakeha immegrant I know Maori have a long history with the Labour Party but I fail to see why and what it has got them apart from being high on all the wrong statistics like prison /health /welfare etc. This time round you have more voices at the table than ever but still get poor outcomes .Just look at the covid vaccine rollout which was very poorly handled.
Agree on the visa issue. I am not sure why you need to allow the extended family into the country. Wife/husband/partner and the kids sure, but the grand parents as well?
On call baby sitter while parents work 60 hrs a week. Unfortunately in some circumstances once the kids grow up the elderly parents are abandoned .
Authoritarian left coming to the forefront again…
Another creep move from bully boy Hipkin, trying to impress his cop posse. He is actually peddling a law that we are all guilty until proven innocent. Privacy is a fundamental human right Hipkin, like refusing forced medical procedures. As the saying goes, I have curtains in my home not because I’m doing something illegal inside, it’s just my right to privacy. Are you going to ban curtains as well Hipkin, so you can perve inside?
I think Chippie has had a few too many flights on ‘Lolita’ and that island??
Perhaps if they got police back to being present (and we all know they aren’t, there are dozens of examples of this over the last year or two where the Police are simply nowhere to be found both during and after the offence) and doing old style police work then they wouldn’t have to resort to these tactics.
Its like they want to sit in a central hive somewhere and watch CCTV and match it to an automated database and then say “Gotcha” without getting off their butts and getting out into the community, getting to understand the community and the families and gaining their respect. Is the automated approach really working smarter in the context of law and order? Superficially perhaps but any positive impact the police may have is forever abandoned.
I agree with Martyn, random photographing and finger printing of anyone, let alone children, is an invasion of privacy; it smells of the ‘dawn raids’ culture and is contrary to ‘innocent until proved guilty’. It will also reinforce in many children’s minds that they are in some way pre-destined to be ‘bad’; just like streaming in school identifies some as successes and others as failures.
If Minister Hipkins wants to help the Police he needs to provide more resources for Community Constables; if WE want to stop the youth crime WE must support local activities that encourage youth.
For a start cramming more and more families into multi story apartment buildings is not conducive to a healthy well balanced childhood, so expect youth crime, distressed youth, and suicides to get worse as housing intensification continues.
The gangs would be either rubbing their palms together in glee for the most part or be pissed that their little thugs can now be charged and legally scrutinized for crimes that they’ve been facilitating. Either way this will affect the communities that are already suffering inequalities.
The gangs are the winners overall, if this piece of legislation goes thru would see the criminalizing and no doubt incarceration of a lot more minors and the recruitment of new blood into their ranks would metastasize significantly, and then hence create another problem and remembering that these youth are from the lower socioeconomic groups and guess what ethnicities that would be significant over represented in this targeted demographics?
So the New Zealand Police have no respect for the law, and break it at will?
The answer is to change the law?
Fc*k Off ! ! !
Yet another Minister entrapped by his department.
Comments are closed.