Tim Dower: Until we see a real response, this Government will be seen as soft on crime

A detailed bit of work in the Herald today about a critical election issue, that being crime, law and order if you prefer, or the lack of it right now. Among other things, the work has found the number of people charged and convicted actually fell faster under the last National Government, than the current Labour Government. I think the idea there is to put a question mark into the air over which party, if it's either of them, is soft on crime. Apparently, when you allow for population growth, police are laying charges now at just over a third of the rate they did in 2009. Charges and convictions have dropped about a quarter in the past five years. But under the last National government, the number of people charged fell by 40 per cent, and convictions by 36 per cent. What this doesn't take into account is whether there was less crime in those years or what other factors were at play. And there's not a lot of point going back over those figures anyway, the reporting process has changed, what gets counted has changed so we wouldn't be comparing apples with apples. And I think sometimes there's a danger of relying solely on just one set of stats or another to prove or disprove one point of view or another. The fact is, if you've been affected by crime, it's not trivial and it's not about name-calling. It's an intrusion on your life, into your property, on your family and on your liberty. If it's happened to you personally, or someone around you even if you've witnessed something in the street it's real, it's destructive, it's frightening. When we see our society crumbling around us the way it is we're going to turn to what we understand. And what we understand, even when we want to be charitable to people committing crime, is that crime has to be punished. Whatever way you try to slice the numbers, we're living in a time of lawlessness. And until we see a response, some real action, this Government will be seen as soft on crime.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.