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Allegations
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Through the rose-tinted
glasses of the Police Minister and police chiefs, the latest national crime
statistics make heartening reading. Reported crime dropped more than 8% in
2004 over the previous 12 months, the biggest decrease in recorded crime
since 1970. The figures are quite
remarkable; some might say, incredible, even allowing for the healthy state
of the economy and low unemployment. All 12 police districts recorded a drop
in reported crime, with national figures for all crime categories, including
violence and sexual offending, down by various degrees, and resolution rates
for most crimes continuing to climb. Violence is down nearly 1%, sexual
offending 5.4%, drugs and anti-social behaviour 7.4%, dishonesty 9.7%,
administrative 19.4%, property damage 5.4% and property abuses 6%. Police Commissioner
Rob Robinson attributes the drop in crime to successful detection and the
increased use of intelligence. Police Minister George Hawkins says “a focused
police force” has helped reduce the rate of recorded crime 22% since 1999. What a pity, then, that
such an apparently good record has been tarnished by more than a few black
marks. One in the Southern police district has been the 19.3% increase in
violent crime in rural Otago — a rise that highlights not only the increasing
populations of tourist towns but the insistence of police chiefs that more
police are not needed in these areas. This is despite previous figures
showing sometimes sharp increases in rural crime and the often stymied
concerns of staff, including some senior figures who have resigned. Surely, though, the
figures taken as a whole are good news. Most citizens, we believe, would like
to think so because, despite the tarnished public image of the police, a vast
majority of the population still believes the great majority of the country’s
police officers are good and hard-working people doing their jobs well. Yet
it would be foolhardy not to take serious note of doubts being cast on police
crime statistics. Last month, two police officers, one with 20 years’
front-line experience, claimed district commanders were manipulating crime
statistics to make them look good. Police Association president Greg O’Connor
added commanders were under extreme political pressure to cut crime. “Where
there are ways of recording crime to make the statistics look better, that
option is being taken,” Mr O’Connor said. If that means crime is being
recorded inaccurately or as cleared when it is not, that must be addressed at
the highest level. Clearance rates for some crime, such as burglary and car
theft, are already low. Police solve less than one in five car thefts and the
national burglary clearance rate is little better. Nationally, the clearance
rate for dishonesty offences in 2004 was just 23.8% and 31.6% for property
damage. Add to these concerns, claims that the public is so disillusioned
that many, mainly minor, crimes go unreported and the picture is nowhere near
so rosy as police chiefs would have us believe. One of the most
troubling aspects of police administration in the past 12 months, however,
has been the direction of police resources into traffic at the apparent
expense of other areas of law enforcement. While the number of speeding
infringement notices has soared, police numbers in New Zealand continue to
lag behind other comparable nations. And while police 111 call response
efforts are under scrutiny, so many police seem to spend their time ticketing
motorists for speeding and other relatively minor traffic infringements. In
addition, there have been continuing revelations of police misconduct,
pointing to a worrying “culture” among an unknown number of the 10,000 or so
police staff. Allegations of historical pack rape involving police officers
are still being investigated and the recent court case involving South
Auckland section leader Senior Sergeant Anthony Solomoana revealed police
behaviour Judge Bruce Davidson described as “disturbing” and “sick”. All of this comes down
to a matter of public confidence. At an individual level, the police are
still held in high public regard but, despite the self-justifying attempts of
the Police Minister and police hierarchy, there are still too many doubts for
there to be full confidence in police administration, and, we fear, police
crime statistics. Many might be tempted to recall the words attributed to
19th century British statesman Benjamin Disraeli: “There are three kinds of
lies: lies, damned lies and statistics”. |
