MEDIAWATCH: Jarrod Gilbert highlights all that is wrong in NZ Politics and Police

When Mark Mitchell had to do his u-turn on Police recruitment numbers, TDB wrote…

He was being honest about the situation rather than politicking about it because the reality of Police retention was bigger than the election bullshit criticism.

…the ever brilliant and incisive Jarrod Gilbert examines this fact and concludes Luxon and Winston’s bloody mindedness will see Police sworn in who are not of standard which is going to cause enormous problems…

It’s impossible to overstate the difficulty of transforming a person from a civilian into a police officer in the space of a 16- (soon to be 20) week recruit course. If you don’t have high-calibre people capable of making that transition, you are only going to create serious issues down the track by giving blue uniforms to people who shouldn’t have them.

The state gives police enormous powers: to detain people, to carry and use lethal weapons, the ability to apply discretion around incidents and therefore public perceptions of justice. They often deal with people at their very worst due to the nature of their activities or, and increasingly, due to mental health issues.

Giving that job to people who are not up to it, and who are forced through simply due to unrealistic timeframes, would be disastrous. They will make the wrong decisions, be more susceptible to corruption, create unsafe conditions for the public and their colleagues, and apply the wrong laws or processes and therefore threaten justice or allow offenders to not be convicted based on technicalities.

…the problem confronting us is that Luxon and Winston don’t care if we gift Police some thugs because they want that kind of Police Force to stare down da Gangs and increasingly to protect them and their interests as austerity starts to build momentum resistance alongside environmental, renter, worker and Māori concerns.

Winston and Luxon will drop the standards and get 600 new Police, 100 more than what they need, just to add some biffo and bash.

Most right wing voters already believe Police Commissioner Andrew Coster gives every constable a cuddle when it rains and personally injects recreational drugs into gang members at monthly Police Blue Disco BBQs.

Police have worked hard to build bridges with the communities that are rife with crime and domestic violence.

This Government will staff those bridges with arsonists.

Police need far more than 20 weeks training FFS!

We need longer training, more intense training alongside far better wages and far better conditions.

We need to ensure Police have the best counselling services and the best subsides and benefits.

Longer holiday times better insurance and super deals.

News recently that Police were going to Food Banks because they couldn’t afford groceries is heart breaking and shocking.

Police do a fucking difficult job and are given enormous powers and you need them to be reasonable, law abiding and emotionally intelligent. You can’t have that expectation if they are underfunded and under resourced and the stress becomes psychologically destabilising.

Our modern Police force has grown, we should not allow it to regress into a thug force by lowering standards to win political points.

 

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