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Police Minister hits out at National’s ‘virtue-signalling on law and order’ in firearms debate



a person in a suit and tie: Watch as Police Minister Poto Williams is questioned in Parliament on the Government's gun law reforms.

© Parliament TV
Watch as Police Minister Poto Williams is questioned in Parliament on the Government’s gun law reforms.

Police Minister Poto Williams has hit out at National’s “virtue-signalling” during a debate on gun law reform but she was criticised for saying she doesn’t expect criminals “to do anything lawful”.

Williams defended the Government’s record on firearms law reform in Parliament on Thursday following a recent shooting in Northland and the tragic death of police officer Constable Matthew Hunt in June. 

“Can I say that any incident where the use of weapons is involved is distressing for the police and the community, and police are frontline workers who go above and beyond to keep our community safe. We need to support our officers so we can continue to support our communities.”

Police Minister hits out at National’s ‘virtue-signalling on law and order’ in firearms debate

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Police Minister Poto Williams hits out at National’s ‘virtue-signalling on law and order’ in firearms debate

Williams said in Parliament the Government is doing all it can. 

“Already we have banned military-style semi-automatic weapons, magazines, and parts; taken 62,000 prohibited firearms out of circulation; and passed the Arms Legislation Bill, which National voted against. There is a great deal more to do and I intend to make further announcements in the New Year. 

“I’m sick of National’s virtue signalling on law and order. Under them, police numbers fell. They are up: 2200 new constables, 1280 new full time-equivalents, 700 alone focused on organised crime. This Government delivers for police.”

The Government banned military-style semi-automatic weapons in the wake of the Christchurch terror attack. The Government also spent $150 million on a gun buyback scheme, which collected 62,000 prohibited firearms as of June. 

Brown said National’s Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPOs) would give police greater powers to take firearms off violent criminals but the Government continues to refuse

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Attorney questions why Cleveland police won’t release videos of Cleveland housing police officer shooting and killing man

CLEVELAND, Ohio — An attorney for the family of a 19-year-old man shot and killed by a Cleveland Municipal Housing Authority police officer questioned why city police wouldn’t release videos of the incident to the public.

In a press conference Thursday at the Boys & Girls Club near the site of the Nov. 13 killing of Arthur Keith, Attorney Stanley Jackson of The Cochran Firm named CMHA officer James Griffiths as the shooter. CHMA officials have not returned calls seeking confirmation of Griffiths’ involvement in the shooting or whether he remains on paid or unpaid administrative leave pending the outcome of Cleveland police’s ongoing investigation.

“I just want justice,” Keith’s teary-eyed sister Shantarita Hawkins said at the press conference. “He didn’t deserve to be shot and killed in a neighborhood where he was born and raised. Now me and my family have to go everyday without seeing my brother.”

It

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Police in India Make First Arrest Under New Interfaith Marriage Law

The police in northern India have made their first arrest under a new anti-conversion law intended to curb “love jihad” — a highly contentious term used by Hindu nationalists who accuse Muslim men of luring Hindu women to marry them in order to convert them to Islam.

The arrest in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh came days after state legislators there approved the law aimed at curbing interfaith marriage, which makes forced religious conversion by marriage an offense punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

The law is the latest in a series of measures that have steadily marginalized the country’s Muslim minority, one of the world’s largest, since Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist party came to power in 2014.

Muslims have faced a wave of violence at the hands of Hindu nationalists and last year, the Modi government enacted a blatantly anti-Muslim citizenship law

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India court orders installation of CCTVs at every police station | India

New Delhi, India – India’s Supreme Court has ordered the installation of security cameras at all police stations and offices of investigating agencies which conduct interrogations and have the power to arrest, a directive welcomed by rights campaigners.

The top court said its orders were in keeping with constitutionally guaranteed rights under Article 21, which calls to protect the right to life and personal liberty.

“The State and Union Territory Governments should ensure that CCTV cameras are installed in each and every police station functioning in the respective state and/or union territory” the court said in its order on Wednesday.

“These cameras must be installed at entry and exit points of the police station, lock ups, corridors, lobbies, reception area, rooms of the sub-Inspector and Inspector, reception and outside washrooms.”

The court also directed that security cameras be installed at the offices of federal investigating agencies, including the Central Bureau

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Polis revises Elijah McClain executive order to restore reference to potentially prosecuting police

Provided by McClain family

Elijah McClain

Gov. Jared Polis made a second revision Wednesday to his executive order directing Attorney General Phil Weiser to investigate the death of Elijah McClain, acknowledging previous tweaks to the order’s language “were taken by some in the wrong way and were hurtful to others.”

The newly revised order restores language that directly refers to the possibility of prosecuting police officers in connection with McClain’s death.

McClain, 23, died in August 2019 after being placed in a chokehold by Aurora police, then sedated by paramedics. Prosecutor Dave Young declined to criminally charge the officers or paramedics involved in McClain’s death, but on June 25, as pressure mounted and national attention grew, Polis appointed Weiser as a special prosecutor.

The original order gave Weiser the authority to investigate and prosecute “any potential criminal activity by law enforcement officers or any other individuals that caused the death

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Obama: Criminal justice reformers ‘lost a big audience’ with defund the police rhetoric

“The key is deciding, do you want to actually get something done, or do you want to feel good among the people you already agree with?” he added. “And if you want to get something done in a democracy, in a country as big and diverse as ours, then you’ve got to be able to meet people where they are. And play a game of addition and not subtraction.”

The former president is the latest prominent Democratic leader to express disapproval of the politically divisive phrase, which gained greater recognition over the summer amid nationwide protests against racial injustice and police brutality. Supporters of defunding the police have called for taxpayer dollars to be redirected away from law enforcement and toward mental health services and other social safety net resources.

President Donald Trump and down-ballot Republicans seized on calls to defund the police ahead of the 2020 election in an

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Bozeman criminal justice activist joins police commission | City

City commissioners have appointed a new member of the Bozeman Police Commission who has a background in criminal justice.

Courtney Smith, who is the criminal justice initiative lead for the Montana Racial Equity Project, was approved with a unanimous vote to serve a three-year term on the commission. Smith, who worked as an attorney in Arkansas before moving to Bozeman, said she has a background in criminal and civil law, and previously worked for a civil rights firm. Montana law states a police commission can examine officer applicants and hear appeals from officers who have been disciplined, suspended or fired.

Smith said she got involved with the Montana Racial Equity Project after this summer’s protests. Smith works on criminal justice issues with the organization, largely doing research and coordinating with other groups on reform efforts. Smith said they also plan to lobby at the Legislature next year.

“After the summer

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Criminal justice reformers ‘lost a big audience’ with defund the police rhetoric

Former President Barack Obama suggested in a new interview that “defund the police” was little more than a “snappy slogan” that polarized many Americans and was ineffectual at producing broader reforms to the criminal justice system in the United States.



Barack Obama holding a microphone: Former President Barack Obama speaks at a Nov. 2 rally as he campaigns for President-elect Joe Biden.

© AP Photo/Lynne Sladky
Former President Barack Obama speaks at a Nov. 2 rally as he campaigns for President-elect Joe Biden.

In an interview that aired Wednesday on Snapchat’s “Good Luck America,” Obama likened young activists to shoe companies marketing sneakers or musicians promoting their records, arguing that such efforts to galvanize commercial support are “no different in terms of ideas.”

“If you believe, as I do, that we should be able to reform the criminal justice system so that it’s not biased and treats everybody fairly, I guess you can use a snappy slogan, like ‘defund the police,’” Obama said. “But, you know, you lost a big audience

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Customers storm stores, businesses call police after Boise mask order enforcement begins

The Boise Police Department says city businesses have made at least 50 requests for support since Mayor Lauren McLean’s newest pandemic health order went into effect on Nov. 23.

At least one person was cited for misdemeanor trespassing, Haley Williams, a spokesperson for the Police Department, told the Statesman on Tuesday. In that instance, someone had been asked to leave a store on Broadway Avenue multiple times over several days and refused.

That person was not arrested, but the citation comes with a fine, Williams said. Some businesses have had to make multiple requests.

Under state law, first-offense trespassing comes with a $300 fine if the violator leaves when asked and hasn’t damaged property, or a $500 to $1,000 fine plus up to six months in jail if the violator refuses to leave but no damage was committed. Damage and subsequent offenses trigger stiffer penalties.

“Sometimes, when people learn

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