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New Zealand First MP Ron Mark says the Police Minister has thrown his people under the bus in his criticism of how they use their discretion in unlicensed driving cases.
MP Ron Mark says the Police Minister has thrown his people under the bus in his criticism of how they use their discretion in unlicensed driving cases.
The police have apologised for the wording of an instruction to south Auckland police to refer for training young Maori caught driving without a licence, rather than feed them into the criminal justice system.
Mr Mark says use of police discretion is sensible, but it shouldn’t be tied to race.
But he says Minister Michael Woodhouse’s handling of the controversy was woefully inept.
"This is government policy and the government policy directives that the police are simply following is wrapped up in the whanau ora crime prevention plan. Every police officer out there, Maori or non-Maori, must be gutted by the fact the Police Minister just threw them under the bus and said ‘that’s not our fault, I’ve told them off," he says.
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