The Police are winning over the criminal fratenity one maligned group after the other. First, they stopped doing the catch bit of their previously signalled catch and release programe by ceasing police pursuits.
Now they’ve stopped the annual dope harvest thus ensuring that cannabis prices on the street will be lower than ever because they won’t be causing a shortage through their operations.
Police have quietly shelved their annual cannabis eradication operation in a major change that has blind sided frontline staff and the police minister.
For more than 20 years, officers have taken to the skies with the New Zealand Defence Force as part of a national operation to find back country cannabis plots.
However, Stuff can reveal top brass at Police National Headquarters, which provides more than $700,000 a year to fund hundreds of hours of flight time for helicopters and planes used in the operation, have decided to scrap it.
One of the reasons the operation has been grounded is a lack of appetite from the leaders of the 12 police districts.
Stuff
Lack of appetite? Perhaps they need the weed to give them the munchies to have the appetite to apprehend criminal enterprises?
Previously the operations netted tens of thousands of plants every year, and police have previously claimed operations prevented hundreds of millions of dollars worth of socio-economic harm.
Clearly, this government and their Police Minister are perfectly okay with hundreds of millions of dollars of socio-economic harm. Hell, they’ve already wrecked the economy and the jobs of hundreds of thousands of people, so whats a few more million of misery?
No official announcement about the change had been made to frontline staff before Stuff began asking questions about it on Tuesday.
However, police confirmed the move in a statement on Tuesday evening.
A spokeswoman said the decision was made jointly by staff at a national and district level.
Jointly? Snigger.
Police Minister Poto Williams was unaware of the change until she was contacted by Stuff on Tuesday.
“While this is an operational matter, I have asked for a full briefing as to the rationale behind this decision.”
Asleep at the wheel more like. Too busy sunning herself to concern herself with being on top of her portfolio.
Oh well, at least the street price will be way down this year. Thanks, Labour.
