Police scale back warnings trial after talkback criticism

Police have scaled back a trial to give warnings rather than charge offenders after criticism on talkback radio.

The Weekend Herald reported in November that Auckland police were allowing senior officers to issue formal warnings to anyone arrested for a crime with a penalty of no more than two years in prison. But the threshold was cut back to six months shortly after Radio Live host Michael Laws criticised the policy on radio.

The Wanganui mayor told the Weekend Herald yesterday that he was philosophically opposed to the warning system as there was "no such thing as a trivial offence".

"My argument was that the justice system has got out of kilter with the consequences on bad decisions that people make.

"If you know that you're likely to receive a warning for a relatively minor offence, it is an incentive for you to attempt the crime."

The policy is being tested in the Auckland region, including the North Shore, Waitakere and Manukau, for six months after a successful three-month pilot in the North Shore District Court.

The criterion for the pilot was offences must have maximum penalties of six months' imprisonment or less. This was lifted to two years until the criticism from Laws.

The official cautions are recorded, but are not criminal convictions. The six-month trial did not include family violence cases.

Police spokesman Grant Ogilvie said the decision to revert to the six-month threshold for the Auckland-wide trial was so data could be compared with the North Shore pilot.

Superintendent Bill Searle, the Waitemata district commander, is on leave but in November said 10 per cent of all people arrested between July and September were formally warned rather than charged.

This also led to a 64 per cent drop in cases granted diversion over the same period. More than 20 per cent of the warnings were for disorderly behaviour, followed by shoplifting and possession of small amounts of cannabis for personal use, said Mr Searle.