Crime
in Henderson: Let’s hear it straight from the Horse’s mouth
Thakur
Ranjit Singh
Waitakere
Ethnic Board (WEB) is organizing a Forum on: “Crime and Lawlessness in West Auckland: How can we help and where to from
here?” This is at West Wave Pools and Leisure Centre, 20 Alderman Drive,
Henderson on 3 July, 2014 from 6-8.30 pm. We hope to see you there if you are
concerned, and hear from those who may know what the problem is.
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| From Left: Shane Henderson,, Deputy Chair, Henderson Massey Local Board, and Co-Chair, Ranui Action Project (RAP), Brenda Brady, Member, Henderson-Massey Local Board, and Councillor Linda Cooper, Councillor and Co- Chair of RAP, with candles at Candlelight Vigil to honour the two Ranui slain ladies, and protest against family violence on 30 May, 2014 in Ranui. |
Waitakere in general and Henderson in particular has
been reeling from a spate of fatal crimes of one type or the other. Waitakere
Ethnic Board (WEB) had earlier expressed its deep concern at loss of four
innocent lives in West Auckland in as many weeks. On the heels of a fatal
shooting and two fatal stabbing incidents, WEB was shocked to learn about
killing of Arun Kumar, allegedly by a 13-year old youth, accompanied by a
12-year old accomplice, reportedly from dysfunctional families a stones-throw
away from those who should have helped.
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| Ladies at Candle Light Vigil at Catherine Place, Henderson on 20 June, 2014, to show support for additional police protection and attention of agencies to address law and order situation in Henderson area where there have been four fatalities in as many weeks. With police offices are Brenda Brady, Member, Henderson-Massey Local Boar (Back standing, extreme left), Vanessa-Neeson, Chair Henderson- Massey Local Board (right-standing) and Deputy Mayor, Penny Hulse (second from right) |
Waitakere in the past had a scheme whereby Security
Guards and Police worked in cooperation and consultation to report and
apprehend youths of school-age in cases of truancy. This ensured young people
were removed from the streets and put back in classrooms. I wonder what
happened to this initiative of a visionary Waitakere City Council, and its
former Mayor, Bob Harvey. Is it also the casualty of a Super City?
 |
Children and adults of all walks of life attended the Candle Light Vigil in memory of Arun Kumar, and request for police attention at Henderson.
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There are no simple answers to these issues, hence WEB has
decided to assemble a credible list of
speakers who are involved with the community and try to seek answers to make
Auckland a city which aims to become the most liveable one in the world.
WEB has assembled credible list of people and they have
been given guidelines and general questions that the community needs answers to
and information on. Speakers and respective guidelines are as follows:
Manoj
Tahal: Waitakere Indian Association: A historical
perspectives of Indians being victims of crime due to nature of work, concerns
of the community, and perception of failures by government and other agencies
to address the issue and what are the expectation of the community. How long
will we continue becoming statistics?
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| Manoj Tahal , Past President of Waitakere Indian Association, and Funding and Sponsorship director, will be speaking in the forum of behalf of the Indian Community, and voicing their concern on adverse statistics from the community in fatal crimes. |
John
Tamihere, CEO, Waipareira Trust: Predicament of Dysfunctional
Maori families and inability of Maori organisations to tackle the problem. Why?
What are the constraints? Why, despite Maori Iwis worth some $40 Billion
dollars, their wealth is not used to benefit their people directly? What can be
done to address the problem in Maori families that are at the forefront of many
crimes? Who are the beneficiaries of this money and what can Maori leaders do
to help? What can Government do to help?
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| Until recently, the inseparable media commentators from Maori Community, Willy Jackson (left) and John Tamihere, who is also the CEO of Waipareira Trust and will be speaking in the Forum on behalf of Maori Community. In a recent article, Willy Jackson called for the system to be changed where early intervention could have avoided this happening. With Social Welfare Minister Paula Bennett as one of the speakers, we will perhaps be able to find our what needs changing. |
Senior
Sergeant Matt SRHOJ: NZ Police. Like some media reports, is
this case similar to the case of Navtej Singh in Manurewa in 2010, where he was
reportedly allowed to bleed to death because police were busy following correct
procedure while the victim was bleeding to death? What happened to the police
and Security guard collaboration as initiated by former Waitakere City Council
on tackling truancy issue? What are the constraints of the police? What
corrective actions have they taken and are going to take to address this
problem? Is the reduction in crime statistics reflected on the streets of
Henderson? How?
Hermann
Retzlaff: Opposition Labour Party. If Labour Party comes to power,
what changes would they bring about to address the problems in law and order
situation, and special vulnerability of ethnic migrants in front-line services?
Are legal systems strong enough to deter the criminals? Do they only restrict
the law-abiding citizens to protect themselves, while giving criminals all the
rights? Are criminals protected more than law-abiding citizens?
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| Penny Hulse not only happens to be deputy mayor of Auckland Council, but also a Patron of Waitakere Ethnic Board which is calling this Forum on Crime in Henderson. Hers, she is seen addressing the audience in Henderson during candle light vigil on 20 June, 2014. She will be a speaker in this forum as well. |
Penny
Hulse: Deputy Mayor, Auckland Council. What is the position of
Auckland Council in this matter? To what extent is law and order the local
responsibility of the Council and when does it pass to the government as a
national responsibility? Where, if any, is the demarcation of this? To what
extent can Local Boards help in this issue? What will Auckland Council do to
address the concerns of its ratepayers in this issue?
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| While Paula Bennett as Minister for Social Welfare, and an MP representing the electorate of Waitakere may be proud to be a "Westie", however, recent happenings in West Auckland do not make anybody to be proud of Henderson, and West Auckland, who some have dubbed as "Wild West."Willie Jackson has accused government and authorities of not listening to the community, having added to the problem. Perhaps this will provide her and the government an opportunity as to why as a Social Development Minister, and a Maori, she has been unable to arrest the problem in her own electorate. |
Paula
Bennett: Minister for Social Development. As a Maori, local MP
and a Minister responsible for the portfolio of social development, child,
youth and family, what is your take on such dysfunctional families which are
causing havoc to law-abiding people? What action will MSD take to address the
issue to tackle hand-out mentality and put people to productive use? Is the law
too lenient on criminals and jail term too short? Is the hand-out-mentality
breeding generation of criminals? Cannot community be involved as partners in
tackling this problem, especially when they happen so close to home, within
your electorate?
Some questions and issues raised above may not be raised
by the mainstream, side stream or ethnic media, as they are businesses which
need to be expedient to their advertisers and people who finance them, and
hence may involve an element of self-censorship. An evident of this is from an
un-reported statements from one on our community members made to a media, where
the reporter quipped that as the national broadcaster, they could not allow
such statements. Does this surprise you? Do we have a media which can carry out
real investigative reports, and not merely indulge in reporting the statistics?
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| At the candle light vigil against increasing crime in Waitakere, from left, Vanessa Neeson, Chair Henderson-Massey Local Board, Roshni Prakash, Navin Prakash, President, Waitakere Indian Association and Tracy Kirkly, Member, Henderson-Massey Local Board. |
Media has been invited and hope they take time out to
report the concerns of the community, and try to go to the bottom of the problem
and concern, and not merely report the statistics on ethnic killings.
[E-Mail: thakurji@xtra.co.nz]
[About the Author: Thakur Ranjit Singh is an Indo-Fijian
media scholar, with Masters in Communication Studies with honours from AUT.
After failing to be employed by media institutions and Auckland Council, which
only seem to pay lip–service to the notion of diversity in media, he uses his
energy to work for ethnic communities and run his own blog sites, KIWI PUNDIT
and FIJI PUNDIT to fill in the vacuum in reporting that fail the radar of established
media groups. As is usual for qualified migrant people unrecognised by the
system, he drives a school bus on a part-time basis. Thakur is currently a
Board Member of Waitakere Ethnic Board and is its Media and Community Liaison
Officer, and will chair this Forum.
You can access KIWI PUNDIT at www.kiwipundit@blogspot.co.nz and FIJI PUNDIT at www.fijipundit.blogspot.co.nz]
]
