John Klar: Is Social Media Fueling Crime and Violence?

Burning, vandalizing, and even defecating on Tesla EVs have become commonplace despite cameras that capture culprits in the act. Such brazen behaviors are endorsed and encouraged, embracing lawlessness as a moral good. Vietnam War protesters were not this extreme, and their goal was more visible and less self-destructive. Social media algorithms seem to be fueling terrible side effects.

Musk Derangement Syndrome and TDS

Karl du Fresne: The Crewe murders revisited

No criminal case in New Zealand history has been more thoroughly worked over than the Crewe murders. The killing of Jeannette and Harvey Crewe (above) in their Pukekawa farmhouse in 1970 has been the subject of multiple trials, appeals, inquiries (including a royal commission), books, documentaries, countless newspaper and magazine articles and even a feature film. Could there be anything left to say?

Well, yes. Nothing startlingly new, necessarily – but The Crewe Murders: Inside New Zealand’s Most Infamous Cold Case, is still a gripping read.

Kate Hawkesby: How deep is the prezzy card pot?

I'm just wondering if there's a big box of prezzy cards stashed somewhere inside the Beehive, or somewhere all the bureaucrats can go, to just bundle up endless prezzy cards to hand out to people.  

In the latest prezzy card scandal —and let's not forget there've been a few— 'defendants on serious charges', it was reported, got $75 dollar prezzy cards to attend meetings. These were meetings in Hawke's Bay at the courts, and it was reportedly to ‘share ideas and court experiences.'’ 

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 7/9/23

How Labour is trying to buff its image on the law-and-order front and woo farmers with tax changes

A raft of media headlines over the past few days highlights the challenge for a government hoping to be re-elected on the strength of its performance when it comes to keeping the community safe from criminals.

Among them:

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 17/8/23

Increased taxes are not forgotten in road-funding announcement – but look what’s missing from RMA reform statement

Ministers have become adept at burying politically discomforting words in their press statements – or omitting them.

While announcing the passage through their third readings of bills to replace the Resource Management Act, for example, no mention was made of “matauranga Maori” or “the Treaty”.

But be sure they will play a part in the way resource use is managed henceforth.

Kate Hawkesby: Supermarket thefts are hourly, according to the checkout operators

I was at the supermarket this week and I got to witness first-hand the theft that is taking place on the daily. In fact it’s more than a daily basis; it’s like hourly, according to the checkout operators.

My check out operator by the way, I’m convinced, was some kind of angel on earth. She wanted to help the thief. The guy, who to be fair looked dodgy and if I was in the business of profiling customers who may be stealing, I would have picked him all day long: hoodie, head bowed, scruffy, sifting through the aisles looking uncertain, and in his trolley just a couple of packets of meat.

Kevin: Proposed New Ram Raid Law Is Just Politics as Usual

A criminologist says the government is following the polls, not the evidence, in its new hard-line strategy for young ram raiders.

Smash and grabs are set to become a new criminal offence as the government moves to crack down on the rise in retail offending.

Which will include a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment: the same as burglary.

JC: Looking at the Bigger Picture

The tragic event that took place in the Auckland CBD on Thursday morning was a stark reminder that new approaches are needed to stem the rise in serious crime in this country. Not just crime committed by adults, but also by school-age children. Obviously any new ideas cannot be a one size fits all approach: adults and children require different penalties and outcomes.

Before getting into what those penalties and outcomes might be, it’s worth taking a look at how we got to where we are now. Kerre Woodham made a good point on her ZB programme on Friday morning. She said she felt really sorry for the judges. My first reaction, and I suspect that of many listening, was to disagree. We so often blame the judges for giving perpetrators of crime light sentences.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: We shouldn't force banks to refund people who've been scammed

As sorry as I feel for people who’ve been scammed out of cash, and I do, I don’t think banks should be forced to refund them.

There’s quite a successful scam going around at the moment involving a text purporting to come from New Zealand and quite a few scam victims have spoken to media in the last few days.

The guy who was in Australia for work got a text purporting to be from BNZ saying his account had been frozen. He clicked it, entered his details- and lost $35,000.

Martin Devlin: “Old man howls at moon. Again”

Yet our sycophantic politically-biased hide-everything tell-no-truth take-the-PIJ-money-to-buy-silence “legacy media” won’t ever report it. There are very good reasons why I don’t/won’t talk/write about politics.

There’s a really good reason I only talk/write about sport. It’s because sport, for me, is an escape. The utter unimportance of something taken as so seriously important is the exact kind of absurdity I thrive on. Sport allows, for however minuscule be the moments, our minds to drift away from the humdrum of everyday life, a life that for most here in NZ has increasingly become a struggle for cost survival. Ask yourself. Who isn’t feeling the economic squeeze? The mile long queues at service stations on Friday 30th June were the most obvious indicator yet that for many many Kiwis right now life is about nothing but paying the bills and trying to keep the financial head above water. There’s a reason I concentrate on sport. Because I resent this current government and everyone in it responsible for the state our country is in right now.

Kate Hawkesby: Try as we do to endlessly support the Police, they’re not making it very easy for us

Try as we do to endlessly support the Police, they’re not making it very easy for us are they?

This story of the citizen’s arrest this week irked a lot of people - and rightly so.

If you missed it, a Christchurch business owner and some tradies tackled a thief to the ground after he allegedly stole motorcycle parts, he had an armload of stuff, they chased him, got him on the ground, held him down while they called Police.

Andrew Dickens: The treatment of the Police is regrettable

There's an old political wisdom that if you've got bad news to tell, drop the news last thing on Friday so it gets buried by the weekend.

So I was a bit confused to be watching One News on Friday with John Campbell oozing and gesticulating all over the screen, telling a story that on the surface seemed to be good news.

1News exclusively revealed that nearly 40,000 charges have been laid with over 8,300 people arrested to date as part of Operation Cobalt, their operation against gang activities.

Kate Hawkesby: Three things have stood out to me as a bit of a let-down this week

So as we end the week three things have stood out to me as a bit of a let-down this week.

One; the gangs and their cosy relationship with Police. Two; the media. Three; the teachers.

I'll start with the Mob and the coppers.

Kate Hawkesby: You can’t bluff your way out of this and keep telling us we feel safe

Well we learned yesterday that state housing tenants call the shots at Kāinga Ora, in that they know they won’t be evicted so they do whatever they want.

Figures showed despite 10,000 complaints, only three had been evicted in 18 months. So, bad behaviour rules the roost there.

Then we learn also this week that gangs clearly run Ōpōtiki. Again, they know they can do whatever they want, and an entire community will just shut down around them. The fact this is happening in our country, in 2023, beggars belief.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: What the police in Ōpōtiki endured today was embarrassing

It must’ve sucked to be a police officer in Ōpōtiki today, having to provide traffic control for the Mongrel Mob so they could have total uninterrupted use of the road for the funeral procession.

That must’ve been a really cool experience for our officers, providing an escort to a bunch of people who probably deserve to see the inside of a jail cell, rather than getting waved through like VIPs or dignitaries.

But that is exactly what happened today. 

Brian Easton: What Do Economists Do?

Steven Levitt, famous for his Freakanomics, shows that being an economist is not just mouthing supply and demand.

Anyone can call themselves an ‘economist’. Many do, despite having no qualifications in economics and hardly any formal training; they often make elementary errors. That is the result of a conscious decision of the economics profession which resists barriers to exit and entry. In contrast other professions have restrictions, often for good reasons; I am glad my medical advisers are not only qualified but also registered. However, claiming to be expert on economics to contribute to the public commentary without any expertise, is confusing to those with more humble understandings.

On the other hand there are those who have a high reputation in the economics profession but who don’t seem to be really economists. Consider Steven Levitt, who has written of himself, ‘I am having trouble mastering the tools of my own profession. If you ask my students whether I know calculus, they will say “not very well”. I’m not proud of the fact, but I’m a realist. If you ask the really great economic thinkers like Gary Becker and Kevin Murphy how often I’m right when I try to apply Chicago price theory, they will simply tell you that I am showing a lot of improvement, because they are kind.’

Garrick Tremain: Break ins

 Here is Garrick Tremain's cartoon commentary on addressing New Zealand's crime problem! 

Cam Slater: Can Ginny Andersen Get ‘Back on Track’?

Did you hear Ginny Andersen get eviscerated by Mike Hosking on Wednesday morning? It was a train wreck. It also preceded National’s launching their slogan “Let’s Get New Zealand Back on Track”. Maybe Christopher Luxon was referring to Ginny Andersen and her train wreck interview. If you haven’t heard it, listen now.

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.