Police Lie and Media Repeat the Lie

The Police issued a press statement immediately after seizing some drugs, cash and firearms. In that press release they lied:

In respect to Operation Seltos last night Police executed a warrant at a Manukau storage locker seizing six revolvers, a glock pistol, an Uzi submachine gun and ammunition.

Every gun like these that Police take out of the hands of gangs, makes our communities safer.

Police press statement

The Police even provided images of the seized items, including the so-called Uzi submachine gun:

You’d think they’d have shown us the photo of the Glock pistol. But strangely it wasn’t in the photos. Why? Was it because it was one of theirs? Or was it found to be a soft air gun?

They did show the so-called Uzi. Except it isn’t an Uzi. It bears only a passing resemblance to an actual Uzi (pictured below):

What the Police actually seized isn’t even a firearm. It is a blank firing toy, albeit an expensive one, but a toy nonetheless:

And it isn’t even a very good replica of an Uzi. I’ve highlighted the key differences for you, things you’d think the Police would have known:

The media are no better, they’ve repeated the words attributed to National Organised Crime Group Director Detective Superintendent Greg Williams and included the same photograph:

Police last night seized an Uzi submachine gun, six revolvers, a Glock pistol, methamphetamine and Head Hunters patched clothing from a South Auckland storage locker as part of an ongoing sting into organised crime.

NZ Herald

It beggars belief that the National Organised Crime Group Director Detective Superintendent Greg Williams couldn’t get simple facts about the firearms correct. Anyone with a small modicum of interest in firearms could see that the photo supplied did not match the claims made. It could be argued that Blind Freddy could see the difference.

Why then did National Organised Crime Group Director Detective Superintendent Greg Williams fail to ensure the correct identification of the items seized, or were they just hoping that a complicit media would just repeat their fanciful claims?

If the Police can’t even tell the truth in their press releases or adequately identify the items they are seizing, then how on earth can we trust them to adequately manage an arms register, or indeed, correctly administer the Arms Act?

The continued dishonesty kind of precludes them being able to do anything firearms-related.

Police have been asked to clarify their media statements. At the time of publishing they had failed to respond.

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