Richard Prosser might think he’s talking tough – but he’s a pussy cat for rejecting the castle doctrine

And then we’ll string the bugger up from the nearest tree.

Some namby-pamby hack at the NZ Herald today credits NZ First with having “a hardline law and order policy” that would offer greater protection to homeowners, farmers and shop keepers who shoot to kill intruders during home invasions or burglaries.

Part of the policy is a 40-year mandatory non-parole sentence for premeditated murder.

Alf’s idea of hard line would be to string the buggers up from the nearest tree, skipping the trial thing if need be.

NZ First also wants the Crimes Act amended to give certainty over the use of “reasonable force” for self-defence.

On this one, Alf would dispense with any need to demonstrate reasonable force had been used.

Next time he bumps into Richard Prosser around the precincts of Parliament, these matters should provide the stuff for a lively argument.

 

Nobody needed to pay for a poll to learn we don’t want criminals in our neighbourhood

New Zealanders don’t want criminals on the street – Poll

Well, bugger me. Who would have believed it?

All of Alf’s mates would have, for starters.

And probably almost everybody elsewhere.

The exceptions would be criminals, lunatics and leftie wimps and tossers.

Strong action is needed to deal with the Mt Eden larrakins – but should it be Willie or Wolfgang?

Is it a job for Corporal Willie Apiata and his mates - or this bloke?

Sending in the SAS is one way of restoring law and order at Eden Park. Alf prefers another option – sending in Mozart.

He was disappointed to hear of the need to beef up security and police presence at the park to prevent a recurrence of the weekend mayhem created by drunken louts. But he was by no means surprised.

He regards Auckland as an uncivilised city and Aucklanders as an uncouth bunch (with some admirable exceptions), an opinion reinforced by their choice of a mayor for their Super City.

What happened at the weekend accordingly should have been foreseen, but the Herald reports –

Sex with children: let’s zap our offenders and leave law enforcement overseas to their police

Alf despairs (often) about the inability of his fellow politicians to think clearly.

A good example of his colleagues going seriously off the rails has popped into the headlines today.

People who travel overseas to have sex with children will face a “strike” towards life imprisonment under new proposals that widen the net of the three strikes bill.

Alf wasn’t around, when the Sentencing and Parole Reform Bill – under which criminals would be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole on third conviction for any of 40 qualifying offences – was reported back from select committee yesterday.

Hurrah: Govt to put more cops on the beat

Crusher Collins is putting more cops on the beat – something the public has been demanding for years.

We can be sure she will point this out when – as seems inevitable to the well-seasoned Alf – Labour takes issue with plans to reduce the Police car fleet.

The Police Commissioner’s Office has started warning affected units that part of the fleet is to be axed as a cost-cutting measure, a source told the Herald yesterday.

The directive had “come from the top” and was “non-negotiable”.

The Herald understands it could mean as much as 10 per cent of the fleet being taken off the nation’s roads.

SoH goes crackers over teens’ backgrounds

The HoS shows an unhealthy interest in the parents and residences of three teenagers accused of being involved in the savage attack, torture and killing of a sheep. It somewhat breathlessly reports they “come from well-to-do Auckland families.”

Blake John Kerridge, Mitchell Anthony Herbert and Matthew Ludolph, all 17, were arrested at Mt Maunganui on Tuesday night after allegedly beating a sheep and blowing off its jaw with fireworks the night before.

All three teenagers pleaded not guilty to charges of cruelty to an animal and disorderly behaviour likely to cause violence to occur. They entered no plea to a further charge of unlawful possession of a firearm, namely fireworks. Kerridge also faced a charge of wilful damage, to which he pleaded guilty.

We would normally learn that sort of thing from a court report.

But the SoH goes on to drag the parents into the proceedings, as if to say its editor is surprised to find the scions of the Upper Crust being dragged before the courts in this way. And it has gone to extraordinary lengths to include the values of the respective family homes in today’s story.

Reining in the harlots

The Government is right to ignore the clamour to revisit our prostitution laws in the aftermath of a harlot’s murder in Christchurch.

The city council down there – would you believe? – has a prostitution bylaw subcommittee.