Posts by Matthew Poole
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with all the stick I give The Herald it's only fair to offer some positive reinforcement when they commit fact-based journalism on the front page.
Well, yes, this is true. They don't do it often, so kudos to them for that. And to you, for acknowledging it :)
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Well, I hate saying this but the Herald didn't some useful fact-based reporting that suggests you're right. And it was one hell of a surprise to me.
You've clearly not been paying much attention to things I've said in the past, Craig. Either that or you thought I was making it up. I've said before that firearms are readily available in many cars, that shift supervisors in some areas (South Auckland and Lower Hutt I know for certain, and I'm sure some other less-desirable parts of the country, too) have a pistol at hand at all times on night shifts, and that the general availability of firearms is much, much greater than the general public realise. The debate at this point is, really, a question of making the public aware of just how many police firearms are on the streets at any given moment.
This is not new, either. As one personal example, about seven years ago I attended a house fire on Weymouth Road, Manurewa. A Saturday or Sunday morning. Very much daylight. A couple of CIB officers showed up, and both had holsters on. Empty, but still in plain sight. I don't remember the exact time of morning, so couldn't say if they were coming off a late shift or part-way into an early, but that they had them on at all said a lot.But I think (as Idiot/Savant fairly observed) you've got to ask some serious questions about what kind of policy and training is in place
We know what kind of training is generally in place: very little. But not where the boys and girls of the AOS are concerned. The Naitoko shooter was AOS, so a far, far better-trained shooter than "lesser" cops. From what I have been able to glean of AOS training from various sources, the AOS are very highly trained, even by international standards. They're not the STG, and certainly not the SAS, but they are very definitely not a bunch of plods who go and pop off a few rounds a couple more times a year than everyone else.
For most cops, annual firearms training wouldn't allow them to maintain a B endorsement on a private firearms licence. That's pathetic, and dangerous. Although I disagree with the suggestion that only some officers should receive firearms training, if the choices are that eventuality and increased training for the selected few, or the status quo, I'll go with the former. That we've had nobody shot through general police incompetence is, quite frankly, miraculous. It's actually interesting to look at the particularly controversial police shootings - Chase, Wallace, Naitoko - and note that they were all by AOS officers. Though, that said, if one looks more widely, I suspect that many of the exercises of lethal force by police officers have been by AOS (or the ATS, in David Gray's case) and very few have been by non-specialist officers in the ordinary line of duty. Edwin (?) Leo at Helensville is one exception that springs to mind, but that was also a non-controversial shooting - surprisingly, given that he wasn't pointing a real pistol at the officer who shot him.On the QT, the entirely unscientific sample of cops I know just don't believe "expanded access" is going to be backed up with serious training and support. Broad and Collins should be paying attention; God knows I would.
Broad wants to limit training to general duties and specialist officers, possibly with CIB being amongst the anointed few. The trade-off will be that those officers will get much more, much better training and practice time than they currently do. Which isn't saying much, admittedly, but it would be an improvement. Given that Collins managed to wangle a budget cut for the Police this year, I don't hold out any hope that training for the masses will improve, though.
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How is Greg O'Connor like a dinner gong -- he should be hit hard at regular intervals
I LOL'd, but it's so true.
What O'Connor is pushing for is ready access to instant retribution, nothing more or less. Judge, jury, executioner. He even concedes that many of the recent shootings wouldn't have been prevented by routine arming - Snee and his colleagues were facing down a rifle, a situation where pistols just don't cut it, and there's no way that covert operators such as Wilkinson would carry firearms - but still wants routing arming to happen. The only reasonable conclusion is that he wants officers to be able to immediately execute those who fire upon them, rather than having to take the extra couple of minutes to withdraw to a vehicle and take firearms from a lock-box.I don't buy the argument that having pistols in every car is a significant escalation from current practice. It's not. Every dog handler has a pistol in their vehicle, all the time. The majority of CIB officers have pistols in theirs (look at how many of them wear empty holsters, even during the day). In South Auckland the night-shift supervisors carry, in the lock-box in the cabin as well as the arsenal in the boot. Firearms are already available within 10-15 minutes at nearly any time of the day or night. The horse is at the horizon, and arguing about whether or not putting firearms in vehicles is an escalation is an attempt to remedy that situation by closing the stable door.
Serious question: Anyone else want to see Halatau Naitoko getting mentioned as much as Len Snee? Or does reminding people of a 17 year-old man killed in crossfire by a police officer fuck with O'Connor, Broad and Collins' narrative?
Actually, Broad is pretty adamant that he doesn't want a routinely-armed force on his watch. The problem is O'Connor, and Collins' spineless pandering to the hang'm-high crowd. Collins needs to make a firm statement that routine arming will not happen while she's Minister, no matter what O'Connor may fantasise in his wettest of dreams.
The only lesson to be learned from Naitoko's death is that shit happens. It's unfortunate, but it's true. The best marksmen in the world could've fucked up that shot, given the confluence of circumstances. How would even a reversal of current firearms policy, never mind a shift to readier access, have changed that situation? It was an AOS officer who shot him, an officer with superior training and one armed from a central arsenal rather than from a (senior) sergeant's vehicle. The only way to prevent a recurrence is to disarm the Police completely. Give Keith Locke his present for every Christmas and limit them to bare hands and short batons. Please let's not, given how unbearable O'Connor already is. -
Tasers? Oh great. Who would get them?
The Rock asked which New Zealander listeners thought ought to get a dose of high voltage, in the wake of Shon Key's comment to McCaw. A goodly number of the callers/texters - and one should consider that the Rock isn't exactly a hot bed of liberal listeners - suggested that Messr Key himself might benefit from a dose of electrickery.
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And going from the sublime to the ridiculous, or something, Granny reveals that Quax and Ross claim every last cent to which they are entitled, even if it's less than $2 for mileage for travelling to a meeting nearby. Obviously Quax doesn't believe in walking. And we finally see a reference to their political allegiances relative to Brown's.
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Has Google lost a bit of mana re: privacy?
Not so much privacy as just insane levels of ubiquity. They own your search, they quite possibly own your email, they want to own your phone (I'm getting an HTC Desire as my next toy), and computer (we've all heard that Google are making an OS, right?). Do they have to own your browser too?!
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Banks doesn't happen to be the former minister of police of a national government
But he was Minister of Police for a National government. What a coincidence.
I'll get my coat.
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C'mon man jesus isn't all bad.
His policy of free kai moana and bread for all wouldn't go down well with the aspirational middle class.
The whole wine from water thing might upset the powerful anti-liquor vote, and let's face it - kids don't vote in local body elections.
I suspect that his actions around curing lepers and the physically- and visually-disabled wouldn't go down too well with the doctors, or with the MoH, either. Between the vested interests and the untested nature of his remedies, he'd be in serious do-do.
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I remember when Brian Mulroney - political neophyte and corporate boss - became Prime Minister of Canada having never held any previous elected office. You'd think he'd been elected Dictator for Life the way he carried on.....just as corporate CEO's are used to behaving: giving orders, not consulting and listening only to their mates and backers....not the people are large.
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One could argue that John Key is brand new in his job and he seems to be managing pretty well - whether or not you like his politics.
You know, that first quote sounds remarkably like the guy mentioned in the second quote. Driving things through under urgency to avoid discussion and consultation - such as the whole Megatropolis fiasco; looking at the dollar value of things rather than the whole social value - mining national parks, ACC, ECE funding; seeking to maximise short-term returns (not that National are alone in this, but the current lot are being particularly egregious about it) ahead of long-term - Cullen Fund payments (how many hundreds-of-millions of dollars in capital gain have we foregone in the last year due to the suspended payments, I wonder?), education funding, Joyce's militant attitude against public transport, etc ad nauseum.
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Aaand Mr 'March for Democracy' enters the race
So he'd vote-splitting with Banks? He's pretty definitely not a leftie.