Kate Hawkesby: Ginny Andersen shouldn't throw stones

So we spoke with Mark Mitchell earlier this morning on Ginny Andersen's claim that he's unfit to be Police Minister.

This came about because he said the Government wasn't going after gangs properly, and more than half the charges they were laying for gangs were administrative like traffic offences or minor infringements.

This is Operation Cobalt, the Government's so called 'gang crackdown' which the Police Minister is very defensive of.

Kate Hawkesby: You can’t gaslight your way out of a problem by telling people it’s not happening

So another day, another shop closing for good because they’re fed up with being robbed.

That sees off West Auckland’s only Post Shop – seven ram raids and break ins have pushed them over the edge.

They’ve been in business 20 years. Now, they’re closing their doors for good.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: Do you feel safe in this country right now?

Do you feel safe in this country right now? Safer than you did five years ago? 

The Police Minister thinks you do. She went on TV yesterday, and when asked if we feel safer she said: ‘More police on the beat make our communities safer’ and then tried to gaslight you into thinking that the crime isn’t as bad as you think it is.

The reason the retail crime numbers are up is because there is this great new app that allows retailers to report the crime to police. It's not because crime itself is up, but because reporting is up.

Kate Hawkesby: The balance has tilted so wildly in favour of criminals, if you’re the victim of crime why even bother reporting it?

As crime looks to be a hot election issue this year I worry about two things, well more than two things, but let’s start with these two. 

One - the lack of arrests being made and two - the top-down obsession from the police hierarchy with supporting offenders, not victims. 

David Fononga, if you don’t know the name, is the Auckland man who went on a shooting rampage in West Auckland firing at Police. They fired back and he was shot dead. But here’s the thing about him – he’d breached bail a month before this happened, and never been arrested for it.

Kate Hawkesby: Promises to make communities feel safe doesn’t fly, it's time for the Police to get tough

Well just as the new Police Minister was fronting media yesterday and telling them she wanted communities to feel safe, Leo Molloy was making headlines for calling the Police ‘weak as piss’.

His words, not mine. 

The hospitality owner was furious that an attempted break in at his Auckland viaduct restaurant – which caused more than $50,000  in damage -  had elicited a ‘chat’ from the Police, but no arrests.

He had CCTV footage of the offenders, police had shown up and spoken with them, but did nothing more. They were free to go.

Mike Hosking: The Govt's knee jerk reaction to crime and ram raids is embarrassing

So let me get this straight, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says we don’t want a knee jerk reaction to crime and ram raids.

The Police Minister says the accusation that they are soft on crime is a sexist comment, crime is all about the gender of the minister.

The Police tell us repeatedly they have the resource they need.

And yet, all of a sudden, we have half a billion dollars for crime, $100 million of which is for the gangs. Another group of which we are told are not remotely as bad as has been reported.

Go figure.

And that in a nutshell is this government - they are unable to see trouble, they are unable to accept a problem, they are unable to apologise and they are unable to recognise a problem brewing and act in advance.