Friday 4 November 2005

More violence, more social workers. Duh!

Now this is surely going to fix the problem of South Auckland's thuggish and pathetic warrior culture. From NewstalkZB: Call for more youth workers:
A meeting was held last night with 150 community members including police, church leaders and school principals.

Mayor of Manukau Sir Barry Curtis will be talking with Social Development Minister David Benson-Pope today about the need for more youth workers in Mangere and Otara.
A recent survey highlighted some 250 government organisations in South Auckland, all focussed on 'social development' and other bromides. Hasn't helped. Youngsters just keep on doing what they want to -- more social workers on the streets isn't going to stop them. More police on the streets might, but only if those police are focussed on arresting those committing the violence, as the 'new always-arrest' policy maintains will happen. But that doesn't happen at the moment, as a recent story in The Press noted:

[Across the country] over the past 10 years, violent crime has increased in every age group but most notably with 14 to 16-year-olds, where the number apprehended for violent crimes has jumped from 3306 in 1995 to 4112 in 2004...
For 80 per cent of youth offenders, their crime will mean a visit to police youth aid and a warning. They are unlikely to reoffend.

The remaining 20 per cent are referred to the Youth Court.
Oooh! Either "a warning," or an appearance in Youth Court. That must really terrify these young gangsters. Can't wait to see how the 'cure' of more social workers is going to fix things. As I've said here before (see below), in my view it's nannying Governments action that have helped cause the problem -- the answer is not more of the same.

NB: Part three of my own pieces on the problems in South Auckland will be here soon. For the record, here is Part One and Part Two of 'The Warrior Culture of South Auckland.'

[UPDATE: Of course, the problems seen in South Auckland are not confined to it. I learn from Berlin Bear for example that Parisian suburbs have had "seven consecutive nights of rioting..., in which at least 177 cars have been set alight, numerous shops and other buildings looted and/or ransacked and/or set on fire, and shots have been fired at police and firefighters." Oddly however, Berlin Bear finds something wrong with calling these destructive fuckwits 'scum.' Don't want to "alienate... the disaffected youths who are causing the trouble even further with such terms of abuse," whimpers the Bear. Jesus wept! You can tell he's an academic.]

[UPDATE 2: The problems in Paris put those in South Auckland in the shade. Cox and Forkum have the cartoon (right) and some news that explains why.]

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