Opening of new police station
The police service had matched the challenge of the last decade, but it still had a long way to go, the Prime Minister (Mr Kirk) said at the opening of the new Christchurch police station on Saturday.
i About 450 guests and 10 protesters gathered outside the Hereford Street entrance for the opening of the s4m building, which has already been in use for two months. Mr Kirk said that evidence of soundly-based police policies was not hard to find, but the service had as yet a long way to go to eliminate the effects of frustrated human drives, or the failure of some of the community to develop a social conscience. The criminal justice system had displayed a potential for dealing with individual instances of crime, he said. “It is unfortunate that it has little or no capacity to eliminate the conditions which breed it, or to alter the motivation of those responsible for crime.” “REAL WAR” The real war against crime must be waged elsewhere. Every step taken to provide more adequate housing, to promote better education, to provide improved medical facilities, or to care for the aged and under-privileged was a step against crime, he said. The place to begin was in the community; the second stage was to provide a welltrained and adequate police force, said Mr Kirk. In some areas there was a need for firm police action. Those who pedalled drugs from overseas should know they were not welcome. "Let them go back to where they came from.” Those who practised violence also should know that they had no place in the community, he said. The police provided a barrier against the things society often found a problem and with which it would rather not or could not cope. ACCUSATIONS Paradoxically, in the same situations, the policeman ran the risk of being accused of precipitate action, of interfering, of bullying, of bias, of provoking, or of indifference to others’ feelings. These accusations were more often the products of fear or other emotions than the result of sound reason, said Mr Kirk. “At a time when the growth of crime cannot be explained on the grounds of increased population, we who depend on the police service for protection should diligently seek a better understanding of the police and their functions.”
The protesters, holding Gay Liberation banners, stood quietly in Cambridge Terrace during the speeches. Mr Kirk referred to them in his speech after Mr B. G. Barclay, member of Parliament for Christchurch Central, had commented on the fines imposed in early Christchurch for letting goats stray on to Colombo Street. Mr Kirk said: “I don’t know about goats in C olombo Street, but we have plenty on Cambridge Terrace i today.”
Opening of new police station
Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33404, 10 December 1973, Page 16
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