Police Minister Mark Mitchell Public Meeting: Crime and Safety in Auckland CBD

n six short months Mark Mitchell has already gone native, merely regurgitating nonsense police feed him uncritically. He is not the man to reform the police service.

Today was quite a media day. First I bumped into Dom Harvey and met his new dog, Kanye. (What the hell, Dom. Kanye?!) His new podcast is doing well and he's enjoying it which is awesome. He's focussed on Instagram and Tiktok, I encouraged him to do his stuff here on X too but I don't think he's inclined. Dom is well known in the inner suburbs because he's always running about half naked. I asked him how it was going and he reckons he's cut right back, to only doing about 70 kilometres a week, 10 every day. That boy is a machine.

Another machine is Nick Truebridge. There's a Darwinian aspect to the demise of Newshub and that is that the good people will go onto better things, and Nick is most definitely one of them. That boy works, man. Wherever I go there he is, putting in the hard yards at all hours of the day, wearing a suit. This afternoon I bumped into him in Mount Eden and he took the time to stop for a chat which was nice, and six hours later there he was at Mark Mitchell's thing, freshly pressed. I felt obligated to assure him that despite appearances, I'm not actually stalking him. Looking forward to seeing where he lands after Newshub because he's quality and I'm intending to tune in.

The only other media I saw in attendance was Lincoln Tan.

Next the National Party. They are a slick operation and gracious hosts. The organisers from the Auckland Central division should be congratulated for a successful event and the volunteers worked hard at it as you'll see in my video. Next the audience. It was superb to see some community luminaries in attendance including young Leo Molloy and Heart of the City's Viv Beck. Representatives of Auckland City Mission where there too though, lowering the tone.

Now Mark Mitchell. . Blimey. I'm going to start by saying that I like him and more than that, I respect him. He is an honourable man and we are fortunate to have people of his calibre represent us in parliament. However. In my estimation Mitchell is too loyal. A personality trait he's doubtless developed from a lifetime in the trenches (in some instances, literal trenches) relying upon the blokes beside him. He is too close to police, representing them to the public rather than representing the public to them.

Now Mitchell is a smart man. He knows that rebuilding public trust in the police is essential, and made regular mention of this and collaboration with other areas of society. Where he falls down is in approach: he believes the police are doing a great job and the issues have been that they have been tasked with performing functions that they shouldn't, and the solution is to refocus on core policing. While that is partially true it does not get to the heart of the issue:

To regain public trust, the police must be reformed. Mark Mitchell must root out the corruption and the incompetence amongst the senior police hierarchy and replace them with individuals who are not ideologically captured by Leftism and Wokism.

Mr Mitchell: within 30 metres from where you were standing this evening two incidences of arson have occurred recently that police will not investigate because they are laser focussed on Rainbow Paedostrian Crossings instead. Mr Mitchell, fires endanger peoples lives. Arson is more important than the sensibilities of the Alphabet people.

Mr. Mitchell has gone native, as the saying in the UK civil service goes. Tonight he repeated talking points the police fed to him which are total nonsense. Repeatedly he mentioned that foot patrols in the CBD had increased by 58% and that crime in the CBD was down by (I think) 60% BOTH FIGURES ARE TOTAL FABRICATIONS and quite properly, the audience jeered and laughed when he mentioned them. His defence was that Viv Beck from HotC and the chap who runs the Newmarket Business Association corroborated them, assuring him things were improving, that there really were more police foot patrols and that crime was down. LIES.

Minister, neither is a reliable source if that is what they are telling you. And Minister, you are quoting figures from police who have a vested interest in supplying massaged information. Another 30 metres from where you were standing this evening is the Krispy Kreme doughnut shop. Police consider the two steps they take across the footpath to the front door of that establishment to be a foot patrol. They think the two steps back from the door to the patrol car is as as well. Police might count visiting a doughnut shop as two foot patrols but I can assure you, the Auckland CBD community does not.

We, The People, know what is happening in our community. Minister, listen to the people who spoke with you this evening, rather than police and the vested interests.

Finally a kind word. Mark Mitchell cares about the community and is endeavouring to do the right thing. He turned up tonight to listen, something his predecessors and our local MP refuse to do. He did this because he is an honourable man, we are lucky to have him and he deserves our gratitude. He has a valuable contribution to make to NZ public life from which our society will greatly benefit.

But not as Minister of Police. Mark Mitchell is the wrong man for that job.

-SRA. Auckland, 3/vi 2024.