National politicises police by claiming Government is politicising police

Written By: - Date published: 10:41 am, January 14th, 2020 - 19 comments
Categories: law, law and "order", national, police, same old national, Simon Bridges - Tags:

Well the political year is up and running.  

And Simon Bridges is complaining about the Government politicising the police.  Given all of the law and order themes the opposition has run in the past year and especially the Simon Bridges video which featured a former police officer talking about him this is a bit rich.

The context is a police raid on a person holding rather strong right wing views alleging that this person was in possession of illegal weapons.  It has been claimed by the opposition’s pollster among others that the raid was based on what this person said to a select committee considering the Government’s gun law changes which were formulated after the Christchurch massacre.

The police however have said that they did not use any information from the select committee process.  It appears that the subject was a regular use of social media and I presume that the application would have relied on it.

He has his ability to seek legal recourse.  The Nicky Hager case will provide an interesting precedent for him.

He has been described by the right as being a family man.  It has been pointed out on twitter however that he thinks Trump is a great leader and is stopping the world drifting leftward, thinks there are points of the shooter’s manifesto which overlap with his movement’s world views, opposes the United Nations,wants greater controls on Immigration and opposes the UN migration pact.  So in all fairness it could be said that he holds some pretty hard right wing views.

https://twitter.com/farmgeek/status/1215915623961595911

Bridges has chosen to step in, support the “family man” complain about the Police decision and allege that the Government is effectively controlling the police.  From Zane Small at Newshub:

Bridges described the firearms ban and buyback scheme as a “quiet fiasco” and suggested the Government is influencing the police to prioritise it over issues he feels are more pressing, like gang violence. 

“I do – and I don’t want to get into conspiracy theories – worry about the politicisation of the police,” Bridges said. “I think they have to be scrupulously independent.”

The National Party leader said he’s seen top police officers having coffee with ministers in the Beehive in Wellington and said it “worries” him. 

Williams asked Bridges if Judith Collins did the same thing when she was Police Minister under the former National-led Government. 

“I don’t know,” Bridges replied, “but I’ll tell you what I do think: we need to be scrupulous in guarding against that and ensuring that there is a separation.

“To the police, I say quite clearly: Mike Bush, you guard against politicisation of your force. It’s too precious to do otherwise.”

The police has responded with a very clear denial:

Police Commissioner Mike Bush responded by pushing back against Bridges’ claims.

“I can assure the New Zealand public that all operational decisions are made independently of any political inference,” he told Newshub. “There are no exceptions to this, including matters that are currently in the media.”

The claims of having cups of coffee with Ministers in the Beehive is bizarre.  Police and other senior public servants visit Ministers all the time.  What are they to do? Be offered water only?

There is an attempt to draw an equivalence between this incident and what happened to Nicky Hager. I can’t see it myself. Making sure the current law works has to be a priority for the police. And people should be aware by now that the law has changed.

Besides Hager had his papers and computers seized as well as his daughter’s computer. And police said at the time that he was not a suspect.

Such subtleties are beyond current political discourse. And it is unfortunate that the current leader of the opposition has this practice of barking at pretty well every issue that goes past him.

19 comments on “National politicises police by claiming Government is politicising police ”

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  1. DirkDirkin 1
    14 January 2020 at 12:32 pm

    Different year, same uninformed, biased b/s from Bridges

  2. Kevin 2
    14 January 2020 at 12:33 pm

    An immigrant wanting greater controls on immigration…

    • mickysavage 2.1
      14 January 2020 at 1:29 pm

      But only the ones that are a different colour to him.

      • McFlock 2.1.1
        14 January 2020 at 1:56 pm

        A bit like the opposition leader wanting police crackdowns on gangs and other criminal organisations, just not ws ones that also might possess illegal weapons.

      • Kevin 2.1.2
        14 January 2020 at 2:10 pm

        Probably mad he couldn't emigrate to South Africa. He would have fit in nicely there 30 years ago.

      • OnceWasTim 2.1.3
        14 January 2020 at 4:45 pm

        Out of the Trump playbook – projection: whereby you accuse your opponents of all the stuff you (one) is guilty of.

        But given all that, the thing the Coalition needs to wake up to most is that many in the senior ranks of the public service are not their friends.

        (Just as another example of muppetry, an RNZ report on Summer Report this morning regarding refugees). The place really has progressed from being a shambles to a farce. It always was destined to be just that since it took on the Joyce/Coleman once-over, but its not just MoBIE by any means.

        And if I hear one more time some Labour politician use the term "best practice" as some sort of justification for offialdom's muppetry, it'll be the determinant of whether I vote Labour of Green. None of which is any reflection on the worker-bees.

        Speak to your mates @ MickeySavage. If you like, I know someone who'd happily assist with satisfying a few Labour politician's masochistic tendencies if that's what it's going to take for them to realise a few senior public servants really don't want the Coalition to succeed – and they're often dressed up in various guises

  3. Gosman 3
    14 January 2020 at 2:03 pm

    "It has been pointed out on twitter however that he thinks Trump is a great leader and is stopping the world drifting leftward, thinks there are points of the shooter’s manifesto which overlap with his movement’s world views, opposes the United Nations,wants greater controls on Immigration and opposes the UN migration pact. So in all fairness it could be said that he holds some pretty hard right wing views."

    Ummm… holding pretty hard right views is not a crime nor should it be a driver for any Police harassment.

    • McFlock 3.1
      14 January 2020 at 2:07 pm

      Couple it with talking about possessing illegal weapons parts, it should definitely be a driver for closer examination. 51 reasons why.

    • Cinny 3.2
      14 January 2020 at 4:30 pm

      The police turning up with a search warrant is not harassment.

      The police continuing to turn a blind eye to right wing extremists in the wake of the ChCh tragedy would be more than disturbing.

      With that in mind, I'm completely bemused as to what the issue actually is.

    • Ian 3.3
      14 January 2020 at 7:20 pm

      It's police harrassment ,pure and simple. Hagar got off on a technicality but it took the wind out of his sails. As a licensed firearms owner ,I have hunted all my life and am legally obliged to controll pests and euthanise animals that are suffering with no chance of survival.This is an area the rural /urban divide needs to bridge with a lot more understanding from both sides .Nash and his cronies need to look at the bigger picture and be very carefull of how they label their political opponents.

      • Lucy 3.3.1
        15 January 2020 at 10:18 am

        If the police turned up with a search warrant then a judge looked at the evidence and ascertained there was enough probable cause. That judges decision is open to scrutiny as was done in the Hagar case where the police were deemed to have neglected to have left out facts the judge needed to know. If he claimed to have (by then) illegal weapons on social media then the police would be remiss not to follow it up. I have never hunted but the concept of needing a gun that shots hundreds of bullets a minute to shoot a bunny or several bunnies implies a lack of skill and technique.

        • Ian 3.3.1.1
          15 January 2020 at 4:26 pm

          The firearm in question was an antique lever action .22 rifle . Thats a problem with rushed legislation when the vast majority of the legislators have no idea what they are doing. You,for example seem pretty ignorant about firearms and thats OK but many rural folk use firearms in their daily work and I can't be bothered explaining to you why a lever action .22 would have great difficulty in firing hundreds of bullets a minute.The magazine capacity of the rifle was over 10,so the bunny gun got caught up in this ridiculously rushed legislation.

          • In Vino 3.3.1.1.1
            15 January 2020 at 4:57 pm

            'antique'?? You mean from the 17th Century? Or from Ancient Greece or Rome? Emotive terms give away your underlying attitudes, Ian.

            'old' would have been a better word for you to use. Lever action was still common in World War 2, whereas 'antique' suggests something like front-loading muskets.

            And his name is Hager, not Hagar. Another Freudian slip?

  4. McFlock 4
    14 January 2020 at 2:05 pm

    See, now this thing about coffee with ministers doesn't even say coffee with police ministers. A number of areas like health and social welfare are getting into multi-sectoral integration at regional and local levels. Even if these are work coffees, they might be informal explorations into ways a different ministry can help get the right things done on the ground. Cops stand out because of uniforms – a DHB CEO or OT manager could be anybody.

  5. Cinny 5
    14 January 2020 at 4:24 pm

    Isn't the narrative 'nothing to hide, nothing to fear' a right wing/conservative point of view? I guess that narrative goes out the window for a tory when the police turn up with a search warrant.

  6. soddenleaf 6
    14 January 2020 at 4:35 pm

    We're in a new era of gun laws, it's necessary that policing practuces will evolve. Its understandable then that National pro more gangs, tie judges hands, feckless bans on alternative route taking, all once again show how out of touch national are always on crime. More crims, more jail, less justice,poor regulation, talking out of their collective backsides…

    Bridge sup Key cool aid and hasn't looked back, Key being the worst post war pm. Oversaw the biggest collapse in finance and had nothing useful to say, keeping his head down banker code.

  7. Ken 7
    14 January 2020 at 6:59 pm

    Are we getting "tough on crime" or aren't we, Soimun?

  8. JustMe 8
    14 January 2020 at 7:59 pm

    Where was Simon Bridges' voice of concern when Kim Dotcom experienced an invasion by Police on his(Dotcom's)private property during a National government???!!?!!!!!

    Why does it seem perfectly normal for the Police to raid a property during a National government but it's unacceptable when National are in Opposition???!!!!!!

    If a wealthy Asian donator to the NZ National Party who so happens to have Triads links has a visit by the NZ Police will Bridges condemn that visit as say an 'invasion of privacy"? Or will Bridges' conveniently overlook this and there wouldn't be a peep out of him because it, the wealthy Asian businessman's links, are too close to the NZ National Party bank accounts???!!!

    All in all it does seem Bridges' has a very short memory span especially of the all too numerous times the NZ Police raided ordinary NZers homes because they, the NZers concerned, were more vocal about their questioning of the National government of the day.