Yet again concerns have been raised, this time by a former police officer, over the response times to burglaries. He commented it showed the police are overwhelmed & under resourced. This was reiterated by the NZ Insurance council.
The common story is at least two days for someone to show up.
But it actually can be much worse than that.
One person told me of the time they got home & were not sure if the burglar was still inside. Called police. Too busy. So in the end after waiting several hours they entered the premises, cleaned up & noted what was missing. Four days later police showed up & told this person off for cleaning up as they could not gain any evidence.
As this individual replied "well I wasn't waiting four days to have a shower or sleep."
On another occassion I am aware of a commercial premises where after reporting a burglary they were asked their fax number & a report to fill in was faxed through.
Crime is out of control & getting worse, but most of it is not reported. In response to the above criticism by the former officer the reply was crime was down. It is mainly down because it is not been reported.
Policing: Continuity and Change
This issue was also highlighted last night on TV One's Close up programme.
An individual having someone come up their driveway here in Christchurch acting suspiciously they rang the police who advised they were too busy.
This individual then with his sister followed the suspicious person. On seeing this person enter a property he then effected what he said was a 'citizen's arrest'.
Critical Issues in Policing: Contemporary Readings
Now people see this used on TV in particular programmes from the US. Thing is law is different here & citizen's arrest here has so many hoops to jump through there is a lot of confusion & therefore in the security industry not used often.
Not to mention it was on someone else's property & as security often find, even on property they do have a right to be on, the owners then say they have no right to trespass or remove someone. Causes all sorts of issues.
From what featured on the item it would appear that the person who effected the 'citizen's arrest' is maybe lucky not to be charged.
Policing the Globe: Criminalization and Crime Control in International Relations
The issue of citizen's arrest came up when I made my submission to the select committee on the new security personnel bill. There were at least three different views there on what constitutes the condidtions to be able to effect a citizen's arrest.
I learned of it on my NZQA security course where the person teaching the law actually had a law degree which they had used to focus on the law as it related to the security industry.
After telling us the parts that you needed to know to effect a citizen's arrest, their advice was don't unless it is a major crime.
International Policing Technology
For example there was the question of when. In most instances it is to be used during the hours of darkness, but which one. In NZ law at the time I completed my course there were three seperate definitions of the hours of darkness. Most people would only beaware of the one in regards to driving, not the definition in the crimes act which is very different.
Another issue was the requirement to know the sentence for that crime & it wasn't the sentence in the act but the sentence currently been given out by the courts.
You are allowed to detain someone. Everyone is, but the amount of force required to detain will depend on level of crime. Best way to detain is by use of the mouth.
Community Policing, Partnerships for Problem Solving
The problem within the NZ security industry though is the different levels of training for the same qualification if one at all. Often the better security guards are those who have learnt on the street, not on the courses.
The current system has NZQA levels 2 & 3 are mainly class room based. Then you have people instructing on the courses like the one I attended who like myself come from the military & they enforce the classroom training all the way through with practical training situations. Most courses don't.
Community Policing
Currently we are getting a lot of people coming out of training courses who have been told the way to use their mouth, but have never had to front someone aggressive swearing threatening right in their face. These new people just don't cut it.
As the police become more overwhelmed & under resourced the extra work is falling to the NZ Security Industry & the training or awareness of security guards needs to be raised.
http://www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz
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