Labour Gives Burglars Nine-Month Head Start

Wednesday 30 Jul 2003 Dr Muriel Newman Press Releases -- Crime & Justice

ACT New Zealand Police Spokesman Dr Muriel Newman today said that, thanks to Labour, it didn't matter that overworked police can take 19 hours to attend a burglary callout, because it can take up to nine months to analyse evidence from the crime scene.

"Answers to my written Parliamentary Questions have revealed that the Crime Sample Database has more than 1,500 samples waiting to be analysed, and has been allowed to become so overloaded it can take up to nine months to even start forensic examinations," Dr Newman said.

"This is simply unacceptable. Forensic evidence should be available to police within four weeks, so that they can catch offenders and solve crime. With the Government sitting on a $4 billion surplus, there is no excuse for not sorting out this problem, unless this soft-on-crime Government purposely wants to delay bringing offenders to justice.

"A core role of Government is to uphold the rule of law and crack down on crime. It is imperative that forensic evidence is analysed in a timely manner, so that offenders are brought to justice, rather than remaining free to continue their crime wave," Dr Newman said.

ENDS

For more information visit ACT online at http://www.act.org.nz or contact the ACT Parliamentary Office at act@parliament.govt.nz.

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