‘Changing the mentality of our justice system starts at the top’

I want to comment on a story you ran on your front page, Friday September 29 2014, titled, “Lemon Thief Given Community Service.”I was the one who spotted the thief leaving my family property with the sack of lemons and personally followed him on my motor bike to discover he had sold the lemons to the Anchorage Restaurant in Arorangi. I reported the crime to Puaikura Community Police Department and laid charges against the intruder. By the way, for everyone’s information the thief is in his mid to late 20’s, not 17 as reported in the article.I printed and emailed the police a detailed signed statement of what exactly happened. A day after a police officer came by and had the cheek to ask me not to lay charges, saying he was a young man who deserved another chance to turn his life around. I’m all for giving our youth the benefit of the doubt, but I knew and the Police knew this was not the first time he had been caught stealing. The staff at the Anchorage Restaurant even confirmed that this individual has been supplying them with produce for sometime and were not aware that they are stolen goods. The Police Prosecutor at the High Court knew he was a repeat offender and still recommended community service instead of a jail sentence.Incredibly Justice of the Peace, Pae Tuteru went along with this slap on the wrist. After going through this whole process of doing all of the Police work, investigating the theft and preparing a signed statement, I’m totally disgusted and frustrated with the Police and the whole Justice system of caring more for the criminals than their victims.We the public are doing a lot to try and cut crime, by investing into organising neighbourhood watches, as in Puaikura Neighbourhood Watch Inc., and in the Takitumu Neighbourhood Watch Group, we install bars on our homes and businesses, install security cameras, employ private security firms and still the thieves are a major problem for our community. There a lot of fine and dedicated people working for the Police and the Justice System but it is far too obvious that some of them are not doing their job, they are lazy and incompetent. The lemon thief case is a good example of this, from the police, to the prosecution, to the Justice of the Peace; they all failed to show that they are serious and tough on crime and won’t tolerate repeat offenders to escape jail time.We are all fed up with working our butts off, only to be ripped off by scum-bag criminals who would rather steal from the community instead of work for a living, while the police try and justify not punishing their criminal behaviour.Finally, I have a message for the Police Commissioner, Maara Tetava, Minister of Police, Hon. Teariki Heather, Minister of Justice Hon. Moana Ioane, you better start changing the mentality of our Justice system, it starts at the top, if you can’t get tough on crime and protect and serve our people, then don’t expect much support from the public.Doreen BoggsArorangi

I want to comment on a story you ran on your front page, Friday September 29 2014, titled, “Lemon Thief Given Community Service.”I was the one who spotted the thief leaving my family property with the sack of lemons and personally followed him on my motor bike to discover he had sold the lemons to the Anchorage Restaurant in Arorangi. I reported the crime to Puaikura Community Police Department and laid charges against the intruder. By the way, for everyone’s information the thief is in his mid to late 20’s, not 17 as reported in the article.I printed and emailed the police a detailed signed statement of what exactly happened. A day after a police officer came by and had the cheek to ask me not to lay charges, saying he was a young man who deserved another chance to turn his life around. I’m all for giving our youth the benefit of the doubt, but I knew and the Police knew this was not the first time he had been caught stealing. The staff at the Anchorage Restaurant even confirmed that this individual has been supplying them with produce for sometime and were not aware that they are stolen goods. The Police Prosecutor at the High Court knew he was a repeat offender and still recommended community service instead of a jail sentence.Incredibly Justice of the Peace, Pae Tuteru went along with this slap on the wrist. After going through this whole process of doing all of the Police work, investigating the theft and preparing a signed statement, I’m totally disgusted and frustrated with the Police and the whole Justice system of caring more for the criminals than their victims.We the public are doing a lot to try and cut crime, by investing into organising neighbourhood watches, as in Puaikura Neighbourhood Watch Inc., and in the Takitumu Neighbourhood Watch Group, we install bars on our homes and businesses, install security cameras, employ private security firms and still the thieves are a major problem for our community. There a lot of fine and dedicated people working for the Police and the Justice System but it is far too obvious that some of them are not doing their job, they are lazy and incompetent. The lemon thief case is a good example of this, from the police, to the prosecution, to the Justice of the Peace; they all failed to show that they are serious and tough on crime and won’t tolerate repeat offenders to escape jail time.We are all fed up with working our butts off, only to be ripped off by scum-bag criminals who would rather steal from the community instead of work for a living, while the police try and justify not punishing their criminal behaviour.Finally, I have a message for the Police Commissioner, Maara Tetava, Minister of Police, Hon. Teariki Heather, Minister of Justice Hon. Moana Ioane, you better start changing the mentality of our Justice system, it starts at the top, if you can’t get tough on crime and protect and serve our people, then don’t expect much support from the public.Doreen BoggsArorangi