National Policy won't Dent Crime

National's Law & Order policy will do nothing to dent crime - it's just cynical politics to grab votes while New Zealanders are left as vulnerable as ever to criminals, ACT Leader Rodney Hide said today.

"John Key talks grandly about preventing violent crime, but not one of the cases he describes would have been prevented," Mr Hide said.

"National will lock up murderers with previous convictions up for life - under ACT's 'Three Strikes' policy, we don't have to wait until habitual violent offenders kill someone. Once they've shown propensity for violence, by committing three serious violent offences, they'd be locked up for 25 years.

"With Sensible Sentencing's David Garrett at number five on the ACT List, we have a crime prevention policy that will work.

"ACT policy is 'Zero Tolerance for Crime', 'Truth in Sentencing' - no parole - and 'Three Strikes and You’re Out'. Meanwhile, National will only take crime seriously after the second serious violent offence.

"That's not good enough. ACT's policy would weed out the psychopaths. Under ACT's policy, William Bell - who had racked up 103 convictions - would not have been out on the street to murder Margaret Bell. National's policy is about winning votes; ACT's policy is about saving lives. I look forward to working with Mr Key in the next government and introducing REAL policies that will have a REAL impact on crime," Mr Hide said.