CRUSHER DOES THE DIGGER

Bewdy! crikey we remember back in the early 80's when the local Invercargill police commander caused a media storm when he bust down the fence at the local white power Road knight headquarters - with a bulldozer..

Police have apparently learned something from the past.

Diggers used to crash down gang pad and raid the drug dealing pricks.

Excellent work.

No - more - Gangs.

POLITICAL CHALK AND CHEESE

Adolf over at No Minister has a very good, almost scholarly dissertation on the differences between National and Labour. Something for journalists to file away for reference in the coming months.

However, we think that this governments steely leadership is worthy of note as well.

Ministers like Judith Collins have managed to face down public service Humpreys who are well past their use by date. Its a tough thing to do - as our dad would say - they are cunninger than a shithouse rat.

Collins has shown clearly that while she knows front line police on the street do a great job, the strategic direction of the police force was lacking. The culture was shit. It was a boys club. She has appointed a tough bugger in Peter Marshall to set things right , he knows what she expects police to achieve and he can be sure in the knowledge that she will unfailingly back him to the hilt and give him all the support he needs when the chips are down.

Crusher Collins has shown she is not a Minister to be trifled with. It is apparent that she gave Broad and Pope a wee push out the door. She gave them enough time to gather their wits and exclaim it was all their idea when plainly it wasnt. The fact that her desire to see them gone was leaked, shows clearly the shake up of the police ivory tower was very popular with the rank and file.

We can never understand New Zealanders medias subtle condemnation of changes to the leadership of the public service with the advent of a new government. Firstly its the government perrogative to choose the CE's they want to work with. They need to know that the people they are working will support the policies they are trying to implement.

The public service is a slow acting dull beast, made fat and lazy from years of over indulgence. The smart and the passionate get mired in process designed to keep account of outputs not outcomes.

For New Zealand to get ahead of the game - that must change. Crusher , is thankfully leading the charge.

ONE LAW FOR ALL

Take a look at this wanker. Filthy Shit Aka Blanket Man the "urban legend" who is a common sight on the streets of downtown Wellington.

Now we think that the authorities lax attitude to him is just plain wrong. Every successful Maori we know cringes at the sight of him. Every unsuccessful one waves, feeds him or greets him with a "Chur Bro."

Says it all really.

But today we saw Blanket man blatantly break the law - a breach that would see anyone else fined. At the very least the liquor should be confiscated. And after a six pack of RTD bourbon, as was the case today - Blanket man would be intoxicated. We have seen him when he is pissed and he can become quite aggressive so he could also be arrested for being intoxicated.

Say an 18 year old wanders down Courtenay Place sees Blanket man getting pissed in full public view on a public street on a Friday night , then one of his mates gets chucked in the slammer for being intoxicated later that night that 18 year old would have less respect for the law and the law inforcers.

A lack of action by the authorities in this case sends all the wrong messages.

Blanket man not an icon. He is not loved by all. He needs to be treated as any other citizen. Inaction on the part of the authorities is an abrogation of their responsibility to uphold the law and apply it equally to everyone.

And I am more than happy for the police to "seize" my photographic evidence of this prick breaking the law.

COULD NOT HAVE SAID IT BETTER

This will simply effect one of the greatest social changes we have ever seen. Non smoking jails.

Judith Collins sums it up in the most succinct way

''Prisoners with alcohol and drug addictions have to deal with it. We don't offer alcohol to prisoners with alcohol addictions or P to prisoners with methamphetamine addictions. This is a prison, it's not a home.''

Absolutely and prison officers are there to deal with prisoners. So all that is needed is plenty of support for inmates and officers to kick the habit.

Nuff said.

JAIL SMOKE BAN WONT INCREASE VIOLENCE

We are delighted to see that the Minister of Corrections is giving some serious thought to making prisons smoke free. Its an excellent idea that has been a long time coming. It appears that the liability for any smoking related illnesses among prison officers is one of the reasons.

Department of Corrections bosses found taxpayers could be liable for lawsuits from prison guards exposed to inmates' second-hand smoke.

The potential threat of legal action was heightened after the Government's decision to "double bunk" inmates in a single cell, raising the possibility of non-smoking prisoners suing the Government for being housed with smoking inmates.

The dangers of legal action were found after Collins instructed Corrections staff to investigate a ban, and its success rates overseas.

They found tobacco was used as currency inside prison and was the cause of disputes. Further reasons for the ban included the use of cigarette lighters and matches to melt plastic into which blades could be embedded, turning cell possessions into weapons.

While some would say that taking cigarettes off inmates could lead to riots - we are sure that if the programme is introduced in the right way with plenty of support for both inmates and officers to give up them the potential for violence will be lessened.

So well done Judith...

PPPP

Public - private partnership prisons - perfick!

All the bleeding hearts will be wailing and weeping over this . However  Greg Newbold is absolutely correct.Success will be  largely driven by the robustness of the contract. 

Something we have always supported and the reason that Judith Collins is one of our fav Ministers. Great stuff.

PRAGMATISM WILL SAVE WHALES

Murray McCully and Geoffrey Palmer have shown  enormous fortitude and pragmatism to arrive at what is the best solution for whales and the whalers.

We have long been strong advocates for common sense on this issue. It time people stopped and thought if they had the right to impose their cultural values others .

At a media conference today headed by Foreign Minister Murray McCully and New Zealand's IWC representative Sir Geoffrey Palmer, the pair said New Zealanders needed to put emotion aside and accept that different countries and cultures had different takes on whaling.

Mr McCully said the "acceptable" part of any compromise it was yet to be agreed to, but it would have to involve a big reduction in the annual whale cull, and that was the mandate the Government had given to New Zealand's negotiating team. 

And when we look at todays appalling crime statistics, our efforts would be better spent saving our kids than some oversized cows of the sea.

A FRIEND IN NEED - APB

Homepaddock has had her laptop nicked.

Read the story here . The Christchurch police know who did it. They just cant find him. His name is :
Daniel Morgan. aka Daniel Barr and Daniel Erickson.

Anyway the Christchurch police are obviously much more diligent than the Masterton police.

Interestingly the Masterton police, nearly a year later have asked us if we want to charge the thief...

Crusher Collins has a ways to go to sort out the coppers in the wine province.

So we hope HomePaddock gets some justice quicker than we did.

FLATMATES

We are delighted Judith has delivered on her promise to house inmates in sturdy shipping containers.

We would like to see Corrections put Clayton Weatherston and William Bell together...

And how about .... Philip Field and Nai Yin Xue

and maybe Mary Ann Thompson and Stephen Versalko

So any other suggestions for suitable roomies in the new container cells?

NUMBERS

We speculated yesterday that in the wake of the new Asset recovery unit that Gang members would be shifting their money off shore..

While there were external forces at work the dollar headed south today so - we wonder just how much US currency has been bought by interesting kiwis in the last few days...

CRUSH 'EM JUDITH

We have been waiting for police to be given some serious firepower to tackle organised crime - that these days often has a respectable face.

Essentially it means that if someone cant explain where they got the money to live in a mansion and have a big boat and a few Harleys out back then they can be seized.

Its the type of law crime bosses fear.

Well done to Minister of Police Judith Collins for setting up the Asset Recovery Unit.


We have blogged repeatedly on the Headhunters gang and its time someone took a good hard look at how they live and how they manage to fund their lifestyles.

and we were delighted that the Tribesmen were the first targets of the Unit.

Go get em boys -

YES YES YES

Collins is getting tough on gangs. Good - bout time someone did. And this is something we have more than a passing interest in

This is going to take the efforts of the whole community and it will require a multi agency approach. This is not just an issue for police and corrections - its also about Social Welfare, Maori and Pacific Island Affairs among others. It is time for zero tolerance. And it is time to really focus on P - We have witnessed its ravages and nothing we have ever seen turns sane people into lunatics in such a ferocious way.

So we are delighted to see Collins take a tough stand, she maybe the first Minister to make a real difference.

NEW WHAREHEREHERE PROMOTED

We are with Pita Sharples on this one. He wants a new style of prison with a Maori focus.

The National Government is open to the concept. Corrections Minister Judith Collins says she is "very keen" if it can be shown to reduce the Maori crime rate.

Dr Sharples wants the 60-bed institution to be located in an urban centre so education and employment opportunities can be provided to Maori prisoners "who are determined to learn, heal and socialise".

He said the institution would still have security measures like other prisons: "There'll be locks on the gates".

Dr Sharples said he had previously referred to the centre as an "alternative prison". It would have fewer jailers and "more healers, teachers, social workers".

Prisoners would have to "earn" their way into the centre by learning to speak Maori, he said.

They would prove themselves by becoming literate if they were not already, getting involved in a community project or charity from inside, and showing good behaviour for four months or more

.

If we were running prisons all white collar crims would be housed in the worst cells. For them it would have the most impact. Instead they end up in cushy prisons and on home detention. So prison is no real deterrent for them.

But, put the worst offender, who has had a crap life in an institution that shows him how the world can be, let him sample a life he has never known , lets him tastes the good fruits of society, give him hope and aspiration and you may have less recidivism. We reckon it is really worth a punt.

Good to see the Nats supporting this one.

SILLY OLD DUFFER

Barry Matthews reckons he's done an ok job and he wants to stay on and see Corrections through the changes it needs to make. He reckons that a lack of resources were the cause of the problems. That maybe true. If the mistakes that led to parole cock ups were that bad he had a moral duty to stand up and tell the country that a lack of resources was putting the community at risk. He didn't. He sucked up to the last administration and now he is sucking up to this one. ...

What a silly weak old duffer. Time to go.

A GREAT DAY

Barry Matthews head of Corrections is on his way out. Yay. Can we have some probes into some of the contract arrangements for building prisons as well please. Judith "Crusher" Collins is the star of the Cabinet so far.

And the bloody scary and onerous and fuckwitted EFA is all but gone. Well done John Boscowen and there also needs to be some plaudits for KiwiBlog and Whaleoil who never let up the pressure on this issue.

And Paula Bennett stomped all over the Ministry of Social Development by condemning a letter from a case manager to a beneficiary suggesting the person sell toys and phones to get some cash.

And the Sun is shining and we are scheduled to have lunch at the delightful Bella Italia on the Terrace.

And just to keep you thinking - who's office is known as the G Unit ?

DOUBLE OR QUITS

Now we here at Roarprawn know a bit about jails - it was a few years back but we spent four years working in a medium security facility that had about 15 murders and about 40 sex offenders in segregation. At lot of them at that time were roomies.

So the news that the gov't is thinking about getting inmates to be housed two to a cell is bloody good . Now undoubtedly the prison officers union will screech long and loud about how dangerous this is but thats crap. There is no evidence that giving inmates a roomy is going to make them more violent. There are many people living in the community who do not have the luxury of their own room so why should it be considered necessary for prisoners to have their own room???


The move has been endorsed by the Sensible Sentencing Trust according to the NBR

Corrections Minister Judith Collins said in the interim National would house the extra inmates in existing prisons.

She said one possible solution was double bunking -- putting two prisoners in a cell -- The Dominion Post newspaper reported today.

She said she had received an assurance from Corrections Department chief executive Barry Matthews that the department would house extra prisoners within its existing infrastructure.

Double bunking has already been used in some prisons as inmate numbers exploded over the past three years, but the largest prison officer union, the Corrections Association, says it leads to increased violence among inmates, making prisons harder to manage.

Some justice groups say the potential increase in violent and sexual assaults make double bunking impractical and inhumane.

However, Sensible Sentencing Trust spokesman Garth McVicar today said double bunking was a good interim solution.

"We've got to get back to basics, where prison is a deterrent," he told NZPA.

"It's a place where people don't want to come back to. At present it seems to be a place people volunteer to go to."

Its a fantastic idea. Well done Judith. We like the cut of her jib.