Police declare open season on Asians

The police message to the Asian community, as articulated again last night on the Close Up programme, was that they are to surrender their valuables immediately on demand to criminals without any resistance and that it is their fault in the first place for carrying around cash. You heard it - it's open season on Asians for the criminals and the thugs. It's official Police policy.

That is what has angered Mr Low - the man made out to be some sort of cross between Charles Bronson and the mysterious Dr Fu Manchu. The man speaks English awkwardly and the media have played up on his un-nuanced use of "vigilante" and "combat" to make him out to be some wild Triad-Ninja. He's sick of the rampant crime in South Auckland, and he's sick of the police attitude. I am too.

The cop talking to Sainsbury last night trotted out all the lines about calling 111 and not defending yourself. He chided Low for not engaging in the useless established bodies (token talk shops) that obviously have not worked. What he was doing when he explained that Asians were in the wrong and had to change was blaming the victims. Women should wear less provocative clothing - heard that before? Even if Asians changed their habits it would take years for that to sink into the criminal fraternity that target them. And they do - I've spoken to prisoners who ethnically profile their Asian victims.

The sub-text to a lot of this issue is that Maori and Pacific criminals and gangs from the poorer areas to the south are harassing the White and Asian middle classes to the north. Regardless of Asian-on-Asian crime it is others-on-Asian crime that highlights the point that everyone is interconnected. But not always in a good way. Immigrants from Europe and Asia are usually from business or professional backgrounds and are wealthier than their Pacific immigrant counterparts - and Maori. The criminal underclass and malfunctioning families that spawn people unlikely to care for others will come from the poorer areas. But I don't see the racial aspects becoming anything more than a latent sub-text.

If Mr Low wants to run self-defence courses and make women a bit more street smart then good for him. The tragedy of the woman who was run down after chasing her bag-snatchers is a case in point. The talk of Triads though was a threat to far for most people however. But that was the last resort.

I was amazed that up to 15,000 people - mainly Chinese - could be rallied at such short notice. Amazed - even though I witnessed the thousands at the pro-China Olympic rally in Aotea Square a couple of months back - because it was out in the suburbs. But these were the residents. Over 50% of the Botany electorate was born overseas. There are large numbers of British, South African and Indians in those areas too. All of them are concerned about the crime rate and the lame police non-reaction.

If the police continue to under-perform and fail these communities and tell them that they are wrong and must change and must not defend their property or themselves then they run the risk of forming the very vigilante squads the police dread. My ideas for local policing and local accountability - something rejected in the new Policing Bill - don't seem very radical now. This is just the sort of thing it should prevent.

But as usual it's everyone's fault but the Police.