It's not often you hear a business owner speaking out about government inaction which arguably increases their own profits, but that is exactly what's happened. In the sobering crime series running in the Rotorua Daily Post, the Watchdog Security CEO was quoted as saying recently increased police funding only "plugged a few holes in a badly leaking dyke".
Perhaps if our local MP Todd McClay was at home more, instead of gallivanting around the world, like this week where he's in sunny Tonga, then he would see that it doesn't matter how he spins the government's police announcement, that it's completely inadequate to match the need for increased policing. It takes a close inspection to see how pitiful the announcement really is. McClay said there would be 15 new police in the Bay of Plenty, which means five new police in Rotorua, which really means only three new sworn police on the beat.
The police are a hard working bunch and deserve our respect for putting in the mahi in their efforts to keep crime down, but with recent statistics showing that on average four people are robbed every day in Rotorua, it's clear to see that three extra cops will do little to turn this around.
More needs to done to ensure the police have adequate resources to prevent crime and action taken on the main reason for crime; poverty. Because if would-be criminals could see a path out of poverty instead of crime, then perhaps there would be less victims, and more people contributing to society.
RYAN GRAY
Rotorua
Having dashed out to the airport to witness the arrival of the British & Irish Lions, I was stunned at the total lack of any welcome for this prestigious team. I realise they are in danger of becoming 'over powhired/haka-ed' but surely someone from the 'great and the good' of our great city could have been there?
It only needed "Welcome to Rotorua; we are all so pleased that you are here and we are eagerly looking forward to the game". Not much but its absence paints us in a very poor light.
