This is crazy.
A man follows a drunk driver from Tairua on the Coromandel Peninsula to the Mt Wellington motorway off-ramp in Auckland, making five 111 calls in the process, passing two marked police cars (one heading into Tairua, and another stopped on the side of the road ticketing another vehicle), but to no avail; the driver gets away with it.
A dairy owner supplies police with surveillance camera footage of a young thief, including his name and where he lives. He receives a letter from police informing him that they don't have the resources to investigate this case; the thief gets away with it.
It has just been revealed that nine reported incidents of rape on South Auckland have gone uninvestigated; nine rapists get away with it.
This is serious.
A number of things will happen. Ordinarily 'good' or 'innocent' citizens could take the law into their own hands when a crime is committed, knowing that police won't come. They further endanger themselves, and themselves risk prosecution or worse for attacking an offender or otherwise taking the law into their own hands.
What is far worse, however, is that these shortcomings are telling criminals that they can commit petty crimes (or even rape) with a high likelihood that they'll get away with it.
I'm concerned.
Update 01/04/05: Not long after posting this it was reported that there were in fact 11 unallocated rape cases in South Auckland. And last night I discover (see this tvnz.co.nz news article) that the truth is that there are 22 unassigned rape cases in South Auckland, with half of them being child rape cases.
There are a total of 1,134 unallocated cases in Counties/Manukau, with as many again being allocated, but not under active investigation. The rest of the country has 909 unallocated cases, including three rape cases.
Easter it is, already.
There is no point in telling you I haven't posted for quite some time now; I must apologise to those of you who visit regularly only to be disappointed.
I don't really have an excuse. I guess I'm just a slacker. I'll try and write more.
Toby is so cool. I must get some more photos of him online. He has a Jolly Jumper - one of those bouncy things than hang in a doorframe. He just loves it and can bounce for ages. Sometimes we've left him to bounce and then wonder why everything has gone quiet. We then find that he has fallen asleep in the Jumper, with his little dribbly chin resting on his chest - such a cute boy!
I'm getting another Alfa. It's for parts - $40 for the whole car! I hoping to go pick it up today, but that depends on the availabilty of trailers and tow-cars.
Well, better get busy. Catch you all later!
Today we booked tickets to Switzerland for four weeks in June/July! Yay!
Travel is cool. Especially when you get to experience a culture that is very different to your own. Not being able to speak the language always presents a challenge. I find it quite humbling.
Had a most awesome 21st birthday party on Saturday night. An awesome bunch of people, some cool dancing, and an excellent live performance made for the most enjoyable of evenings.
I'm not sure what this is all about. And I've barely started.
Recently, I've been suffering an immense frustration. I'm swinging from one paradigm to another, unable to resolve the dichotomies that found these positions.
Firstly, there are the things that I do: spend time with my wife, spend time with my son, work (my employment), church activities, personal time spent in meditation over God's Word, physical exercise. I cannot seem to maintain these things effectively. I'm unreliable, irresponsible, half-hearted, and mediocre at best.
Then secondly, there are the many things that I've started but have left unfinished; the broken down Alfa Romeo in the garage, the weed-flanked driveway, the friends I haven't caught up with in some time. My guilt is provoked each time I walk out of my house and see the garage, then when I carry on up the jungley drive, and again when I walk past friends' houses, and once more when someone logs on to MSN Messenger. Why can't I take up these things again?
But that's not all of it; there's a third issue. I can see such tremendous potential in so many unexplored ideas, with more benefits than there are seconds in a lifetime. Excitement, adventure, fulfilment, release, you name it. I'd like to travel, drive across continents, buy a race car and join a club, get more sun, learn to ride a surfboard, play in a rock band, learn to DJ, learn to cook gourmet food and develop an appreciation for fine wines. I spot new people I'd love to get to know, strangers with whom but the briefest glance can deliver millions of hints of unique experiences, ideas, and opinions that no-one in the world knows but they. I'd love to run my own business, find a market niche and watch an idea sprout, bloom and bear fruit. I'd love to be in a position to be able to give abundantly to any who may have need.
...and so with each passing second this huge seemingly untappable stockpile of possibilities is growing, piled up against the very few things that I actually do, and creating a pressure, a frustration that is becoming unbearable.
But then if I step back and look at the three categories of things outlined above, I realise that in the first category - the things that I do actually do, albeit poorly - are the things that matter most: God, my family and His family. And then the second category contains things that are real, things that I should do, but are not necessarily vital. Finally the third category contains many things - most of them are good things - but these are just dreams, not realities - vapour, wind, chaff.
So why am I worried? I have nothing to worry about. I can concentrate on the comparatively simple tasks of the first category, honing my skills there, maybe even managing my time better with these things. And once this area of my life is healthy once more, I can look at introducing something from the second category. And the third category? Well, I'll keep those things in the back of my mind, and if one should approach within easy grasp, then that would be most pleasant also.
Ah, things are so much simpler now!
