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The operative word
By Steven | October 3, 2012
How often do government Ministers tell us that they never comment on “police operational matters”? And for good reason: countries where police are at the beck and call of politicians are police states.
But in relation to the Dotcom/GCSB matter, we have our Prime Minister telling us that the police’s investigation is a “political stunt” and a “waste of time”.
What if the police take this as a not-very-veiled indication of what the Prime Minister wants the outcome to be?
What if the police conclude that no further action should be taken – won’t the public be forgiven for wondering whether they have been influenced by the PM’s comments (even if in fact they haven’t)? After all, the government holds the purse strings for the police budget and appoints the police bosses.
That’s why we have a constitutional principle that government ministers don’t comment on police operations. I think the PM should shut his cakehole about this.
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