Police have criticised last night’s Television New Zealand news report of leaked police crime statistics as “misleading”.
Assistant Commissioner Grant Nicholls, who will formally release the 2009 calendar year crime statistics at 10am today, says taking a section of the official commentary which talks about the impact of legislation on the statistics out of context has created a misleading impression which needs to be corrected.
“Over the past few years Police have made a standard practice to include in the statistics commentary reference to whether any legislative change could have artificially impacted on trends recorded in the statistics.
“For example Police have previously included statements about the Crimes Amendment Act 2003 widening the definition of Burglary.
“The statement included in the report, for the 2009 calendar year statistics, quoted in last night’s Television New Zealand report was intended to communicate that there were no such changes to legislation this year.
“It was in no way commentary on the effectiveness of Government policies or recent legislative change.
“A full, substantial, commentary on the statistics has been included in the package of information which will be released to media at 10am this morning,” Mr Nicholls says.
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