Ground hog Day

Kia Ora,

No matter what crime goes down here in NZ it seems our selective memories ignore the worst, very quickly.

It seems like Ground Hog day to me. I have being contacted by someone wanting to move to NZ & in particular Christchurch & they have being looking at properties. They asked about certain suburbs being good. I informed them no. A mate says but that one is really good, it is not like it used to be. This is despite the fact that in last year there have being gruesome murders discovered right on the street he said was changed. Same with the other suburb he said was OK.

You get the same when you mention terrorism. "Oh but it will never happen here". What was the rainbow warrior, Wanganui computer bombing, trade union  building bombing or everyday interaction with organized crime.

We could have a suicide bombing & I believe I would still hear Kiwis say it will never happen here.

It is the same when you are talking about crime. Everybody has a story of how crime is getting worse in NZ or their city, but when you say well this area is bad at present. "Not in my area! We never have crime" & this will be not five minutes after they have told me of an incident not only in their area, but often on their property.

As several immigrants have said & I seem to keep repeating this. "Lovely country, laid back lifestyle, but kiwis live in a bubble & one day soon it is going to be burst".

Instead of ignoring it & hoping it would go away people need to take control. Only then will we get on top of this cirme wave that keeps getting bigger & bigger.

Two examples of when people have ignored crime or unruly behaviour are two shootings by police.

The first would be the Waitara shooting several years back. Not only did family earlier ring the police then hang up, but they then did nothing when he left their property still upset. Then suddenly the police shoot him quite justifiably in my opinion & it is all the police fault.

No the responsibility lay first with the individual then with the whanau. Yes, the police made mistakes, but they wouldn't of being in that situation had others taken on themselves to intervene first.

The second was even worse. The Stanmore road shooting here in Christchurch. It transpired that the individual concerned had being acting out of character by taking Herbals, smoking marijuana & not sleeping for three days, but his 'friends' only did something when he attacked their property by calling the police. They then had the gall to blame the police. Only people at fault here apart from the individual was his so called 'friends'.

I have it on good authority that the police officre involved was the one officer in Christchurch that at that time could of disarmed the individual if anyone could, if he had being able too.

Yes the officer breached SOP's, but SOP's are only ever a guideline unless it requires the law to be broken.

It is time for the country to wake up.