Insurers support police crackdown

The Insurance Council supports police calls for more money to combat methamphetamine, gangs and organised crime.

Chief executive Chris Ryan said insurance companies had indicated that motor accidents and burglaries were being given a lower priority by police.

"The reason is not because the police don't care, it is simply that they are under-resourced, under-funded and under stress.

"This is directly due to increased pressures on frontline police from drugs like P [pure methamphetamine], gang activities and organised crime rings." Unless the police received greater resources to fight these, the consequences would be serious across a range of areas, including a "significantly reduced level of security" for homes and vehicles.

"Insurance companies will see increased losses and, as a consequence, there is a potential for increased premiums."

The Police Association pushed for extra resources to combat P at its Wellington conference this week.

Yesterday it reinforced its stand with an article in its newsletter calling for more power for the courts to seize gang assets.

Gangs were largely responsible for a massive increase in the manufacture and sale of P, the article said. In four years the busting of clandestine laboratories had risen 2840 per cent. Latest statistics showed a 13.6 per cent increase in methamphetamine offences nationwide.

The newsletter criticised the amount of money made available by the Government to clean up clandestine labs.

"In the last budget the Government tagged $6.6 million over four years for clean-ups of meth labs.

"It's chicken feed when it's meant to be cleaning up a gang-controlled $400 million business, running clandestine labs which can pump out $50,000 worth of meth a day. Effectively, policing of P is being founded out of petty cash."

- NZPA

Herald Feature: The P epidemic

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