The police have released their stats for 2009 and it's not a good look for Judith Collins' War on Crime. The murder rate has jumped up 20 percent for two years in a row. David Farrar tries to dismiss the increase in violent crime as trend that began in 2004. He begs for more time for National's War on Crime laws to have an effect.
Another stat which is resistant to juking is drug crime. Unlike violence and murder, which can be blamed on a range of distractions, drug arrests are the direct ownership of the government at the time. Judith Collins' War on Drugs has had immediate effect, with cannabis arrests increasing twenty per cent in 2009. If you think the greater emphasis had been on the P trade, think again. There's also a twenty per cent increase in P arrests (not sure whether it's classed as New Drugs or Drugs Not Cannabis, but either way it's up twenty across the board).
Total arrests on New Drugs and Drugs Not Cannabis charges account for less than 5,000 people. Cannabis offences were registered for nearly 20,000 people. That's 20,000 people who's lives, travel options, careers and employment prospects are ruined with the threat of jail and a permanent record on the Whanganui computer. 20,000 people is half the population of Whanganui.
Alcohol offences rose twenty percent in 2009 as well, with 12,644 arrested people. While cannabis growers continue to be jailed, former Independent Liquor suit Doug McKay has just been made CEO of the new Auckland Super City. Soft drugs get you locked up, soft drink drugs gets you the most powerful unelected job in the country. The government's futile, dishonest and expensive War on Reality continues.
