N.Z. ‘no longer part of minor crime league’

Press, 25 May 1977, Page 14

N.Z. ‘no longer part of minor crime league’

PA Hamilton New Zealand’s isolation from the rest of the world no longer means that it is part of the Western world’s minor crime league, according to the Commissioner of Police (Mr K. B. Burnside). Mr Burnside said in Hamilton that most forms of criminality found elsewhere in the world now existed in New Zealand, and violence was increasing more significantly than any other form of criminal activity. “We have always had violence, and no doubt it will continue, but the last decade has brought with it a quite foreign quality of violent behaviour which we once read about as occurring overseas.” Mr Burnside said that the change in the criminal scene had been indicated recently by —

An effort to destroy an office block in Auckland in 1972;

Several homes and public buildings had been subject to attacks in which explosives were used; Hamilton’s courthouse was the target for an arsonist, and about $250,000 worth of damage was caused;

Explosives in one form or another were used in nearly 70 violent acts between 1970 and 1977. Mr Bumside said that the day-to-day assault was becoming more serious. “In earlier days, these confrontations were influenced, to a degree at least, by the Marquis of Queensbury rules — there was an element of fairness about street brawls.

“But today it’s a different ball game. Gang or group assaults on individuals are occurring frequently, and a horrifying array of weapons are often used.” Mr Burnside said that 62 homicides occurred last year, representing twice as

many murders as in 1975. During the same period, 19 incidents of attempted murder were reported to the police. “Policemen themselves face the brunt of this developing violence. Last year alone 738 officers were assaulted, 50 with weapons.”

During the first four months of last year 44 policemen were injured in assaults, Mr Burnside said, and he also cited the following examples: A Papakura patrol car driver was shot in the leg in April; Two officers were, bitten by prisoners, and one was sick for some time after the bites turned into abscesses; In September, Constable Peter Murphy died after he was shot outside an Invercargill sports shop. Two policemen narrowly missed death a few days later when a motorist fired at them.