INSURERS SUPPORT POLICE CRACKDOWN

The Insurance Council supports police calls for more money to combat
methamphetamine, gangs and organised crime.

Chief executive Chris Ryan said insurance companies had indicated that
motor accidents and burglaries were being given a lower priority by police.

"The reason is not because the police don't care, it is simply that they
are under-resourced, under-funded and under stress.

"This is directly due to increased pressures on frontline police from drugs
like P [pure methamphetamine], gang activities and organised crime rings."
Unless the police received greater resources to fight these, the
consequences would be serious across a range of areas, including a
"significantly reduced level of security" for homes and vehicles.

"Insurance companies will see increased losses and, as a consequence, there
is a potential for increased premiums."

The Police Association pushed for extra resources to combat P at its
Wellington conference this week.

Yesterday it reinforced its stand with an article in its newsletter calling
for more power for the courts to seize gang assets.

Gangs were largely responsible for a massive increase in the manufacture
and sale of P, the article said. In four years the busting of clandestine
laboratories had risen 2840 per cent. Latest statistics showed a 13.6 per
cent increase in methamphetamine offences nationwide.

The newsletter criticised the amount of money made available by the
Government to clean up clandestine labs.

"In the last budget the Government tagged $6.6 million over four years for
clean-ups of meth labs.

"It's chicken feed when it's meant to be cleaning up a gang-controlled $400
million business, running clandestine labs which can pump out $50,000 worth
of meth a day. Effectively, policing of P is being founded out of petty cash."

- - NZPA

Herald Feature: The P epidemic
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storyarchive.cfm?reportID=3D1162612