Raids 'reality check' for complacent Kiwis

“The major police operation behind yesterday’s raids is reality check for those New Zealanders who dismiss the threat of home-grown terrorism as laughable,” Police Association President Greg O'Connor said today.

“This operation has been triggered by credible intelligence of a serious threat to New Zealand’s safety and security, and the Police Association fully supports the actions taken by police yesterday.”

“This should serve as an alarming reminder that all international trends in criminal activity and tactics eventually make their way to our shores. We need to realise there are fringe elements in our society, as in all others, that draw inspiration and encouragement from extremist activities overseas that most of us would find horrifying,” Mr O’Connor said.

“The majority of such people are probably little more than fantasists who won’t do more than it takes to get themselves on the front page of the paper. But the frightening reality is that it only takes a handful of dangerous extremists hidden amongst them to create real chaos and carnage,” Mr O’Connor said.

“There are a significant number of New Zealanders, safe and secure in their leafy suburbs, who frequently have difficulty seeing past the rims of their latte bowls. They will be crying outrage today about heavy-handed police tactics,” Mr O’Connor said.

“Would they rather police wait until after the event before acting? These are the same people who denied there was a methamphetamine problem until their own children were sucked into the dangerous, violent world of organised criminal drug dealing. New Zealanders should be backing Police for having taken decisive action to shut down this threat before it got out of hand,” Mr O’Connor said.