Police for South Auckland

It is interesting to see Labour argue against having half the new Police recruits going into South Auckland – as National is proposing.They are saying it may take Police from elsewhere. Annette King has said:

“National says how good its policy would be for south Auckland, but it doesn’t say how bad it would be for the rest of the country.”

A cynical person might conclude this is because Labour knows most people in South Auckland will vote Labour no matter what – so why actually risk unpopularity in other areas – they may have less crime – but they have more swinging voters.

And you have to give kudos for National. Their vote in South Auckland is miniscule. The pledge to have 300 more front line staff in South Auckland can hardly be seen as motivated by votes. It would be all too easy for National to think let’s forget about South Auckland – after all most people only go through it on the way to and from the airport.

So I’m quite pleased National is putting doing the right thing over what may be the most popular thing.