One News broke the exclusive last night
Unlicensed Maori drivers caught behind the wheel in South Auckland are getting the chance to avoid a $400 fine.
Police are defending the move, saying it’s part of their goal to reduce Maori offending and that it’s crucial and it’s working.
Documents leaked to ONE News show the “guidelines”police in South Auckland say they’ve been enforcing since last year.
The paperwork spells out that all Maori drivers caught without a licence or in breach of their conditions are to be referred for training and not given a ticket.
“We then refer them to the panel and the panel looks at a whole range of issues that’s caused that person to drive without a licence or why that person hasn’t had a licence, and then provides some support,” says Superintendent Wally Haumaha of Police National Headquarters.
If after that Iwi and community support the driver has not complied within two months, a $400 ticket is then issued.
It’s a small part of what is a nationwide wide programme, Turning of the Tide, aimed at reducing Maori offending. And police say they have the discretion to do the same for non-Maori drivers, but that’s not spelt in the document.
Superintendent Haumaha says it’s not an issue based on race. “It’s based on the fact that they are a significant part of the problem so we’re working with the problem.”
If it is not a race-based issue, then Tongans, Chinese and Australians driving without a licence will also get a chance to avoid the $400 fine and be referred to a panel.
What?
They are not? ? Only Maori drivers are?
Then let’s stop being disingenuous and call this for what it is: ?Race-based policy.
This is a total shocker, and shows that there is a law for Maori, and a law for everyone else. ? Maori may be the biggest problem, but to deny?people of any race a similar chance at redemption can not be anything but a racist policy.
– One News
As much at home writing editorials as being the subject of them, Cam has won awards, including the Canon Media Award for his work on the Len Brown/Bevan Chuang story. When he’s not creating the news, he tends to be in it, with protagonists using the courts, media and social media to deliver financial as well as death threats.
They say that news is something that someone, somewhere, wants kept quiet. Cam Slater doesn’t do quiet and, as a result, he is a polarising, controversial but highly effective journalist who takes no prisoners.
He is fearless in his pursuit of a story.
Love him or loathe him, you can’t ignore him.
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