Taupō crash victim identified as 10-year-old Jax Tauroa-Wall
He was 10-year-old Jax Tauroa-Wall.
Emergency services were called to the two-vehicle crash on State Highway 1 at Motutere on July 4.
Police said inquiries into the crash were ongoing.
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Otago Daily Times
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White supremacist Philip Arps making Christchurch mayoral bid
White supremacist Philip Arps is making a bid for the Christchurch mayoralty. Arps gained notoriety for sharing the livestream video of the March 2019 mosque attacks filmed by the terrorist Brenton Tarrant who murdered 51 people at Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre. He shared the video with 30 people and asked a friend to modify the video by editing in cross-hairs and a 'kill-count'. When interviewed by police he described the video as 'awesome'. Arps was charged with distributing an objectionable publication. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 21 months' prison in June 2019. At one of his court appearances, Arps distributed holocaust denial material to journalists and the public. He was released on bail in January 2020 but sent back to prison for four months in April 2023 due to a range of breaches to release conditions. About two weeks before he was sent back to prison, Arps threatened his ex-wife's partner. He made repeated throat-slitting gestures during a school pick-up. This later resulted in charges of contravening a protection order and threatening to do grievous bodily harm after he was already back behind bars for the breach of release conditions. He was also charged with perverting the course of justice after sending aggressive and derogatory messages to his ex-wife's partner in an attempt to get him to drop the charges. He pleaded not guilty to the charges in September 2023, but was found guilty on all three counts. Arps was handed a 20-month sentence in January last year but most of it had already been served. Arps has a history of threatening behaviour resulting in criminal convictions. Before the mosque attacks, he had more than 30 convictions for indecent assault, guns, drugs, burglary, and fraud. Arps has attempted to stand in an election before. He drew controversy when he unsuccessfully stood in a parent election to the Te Aratai College board of trustees in 2022. Arps has registered for the mayoral race under the banner Independent Nationalist New Zealand. He did not return calls from The Star. Nominations for the mayoralty and council and community board positions close at noon tomorrow. As of noon on Tuesday there were seven nominations for mayor – Arps, incumbent Phil Mauger, current Heathcote Ward councillor Sara Templeton, Tubby Hansen, Thomas Healey, Nikora Nitro, and Peter Wakeman. Hansen has stood for mayor in every local body election since 1969. Retired businessman Peter Wakeman is standing for mayor for the seventh time. He has also tried to be elected as a city councillor on several occasions. Nitro is standing for mayor again after a failed bid in the 2022 election. Nitro was convicted for receiving commercial sexual services from a 16-year-old boy in 2012. A vulnerable youth charity he helped operate, the Te Poaka Tipua Charitable Trust, was also found to have links to the sex industry in 2015. Nitro unsuccessfully stood in the 2021 Coastal Ward by-election.
Otago Daily Times
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More than 5000 complaints of shoplifting not investigated across NZ
By Sam Sherwood of RNZ More than 5000 complaints of shoplifting below $500 were not forwarded for investigation while a controversial police directive was in place, documents released to RNZ reveal. RNZ earlier revealed a directive was sent to staff relating to police's File Management Centre (FMC) titled 'Assignment Changes - Theft and Fraud'. The directive said FMC was applying "nationally standardised value thresholds" when assessing theft and fraud files. The value thresholds were: General theft $200, petrol drive off $150, shoplifting $500, fraud (PayWave, online, scam etc) $1000, and all other fraud $500. "When assessing files with these offences, you will apply the relevant value threshold and file any file under that threshold regardless of any lines of enquiry or IFA score," it said. Following the revelations Police Commissioner Richard Chambers canned the directive, which he called "confusing and unhelpful" following significant backlash. On Wednesday, RNZ was released a series of documents from police under the Official Information Act. Among the documents was a tally of shoplifting complaints under $500 during the period the directive was in place. It revealed there were 5454 complaints of shoplifting that were not assigned for investigation. In Auckland, only 73 of 927 complaints were assigned, in Canterbury 192 of 742, Wellington 131 of 694. Chambers earlier said he was unaware of the directive until RNZ revealed it. A staffer from the police minister's office emailed Chambers on the evening of 26 May about an RNZ article on the memo. "It would be helpful if we could get some clarity as to what the policy actually is and clear up the messaging around this," the email said. Chambers replied that he had liaise with Rachael Bambery, the executive director of service, victims and resolutions and asked for a briefing to him and the Minister's office to "sort the messaging out". "For the record the messaging about not following up shoplifting complaints under a certain threshold is not correct and unhelpful. A range of information is taken into account when assessing complaints and this will inform what Police does. "We have seen very effective approaches to retail crime in locations such as Tauranga and Gisborne which set the standard in terms of what is achievable, irrespective of threshold." Shortly after another email from a parliamentary email asked to be looped into any communications being sent about the limits on investigating shoplifting. "We can see there's a bit of traction tonight." Chambers replied: "I don't agree with the content, and we need to provide some reassurance and better messaging to retail sector". The following morning Chambers released a statement and said the memo did not meet his expectations on retail crime. The directive Also in the OIA is a document titled 'Service Group Continuous Improvement Project' dated January 2025. The document said to provide a more "efficient and consistent service and to meet increasing demand", the FMC was moving from a regional model to a national model. "This will allow the FMC workload to be triaged, prioritised and actioned by FMC staff across the country, rather than the FMC staff physically based within Districts." The process for assigning volume crime files was "inefficient, with avoidable time delays and double handling". Volume crime cases made up 62 per cent of daily reports, of which 70 per cent were theft, fraud and burglary. It was proposed that the FMC and 105-non emergency teams would assign volume crime cases based on the solvability only, with "streamlined assignment rules" across the Districts. "By standardising processes like assignment rules, FMC can move towards utilising its workforce more efficiently, freeing up capacity to do higher value and higher priority services." The document included the proposed value thresholds. The value thresholds were: General theft $200, petrol drive off $150, shoplifting $500, fraud (PayWave, online, scam etc) $1000, and all other fraud $500. On March 17, Superintendent Blair MacDonald sent the email earlier revealed by RNZ that from 26 March the thresholds would be in place. The documents include an email from 7 April revealing the number of files being assigned for investigation since the rules were put in place 12 days earlier. In the email, the police adviser, said Wellington had the biggest change from an average of 60 per day to an average of 30. The numbers were being compared to baseline data over a 47-day period before the threshold was put into place. During the same period Auckland City had a 26 per cent decrease, Counties Manukau 21 per cent, Eastern 38 per cent, Central 42 per cent and Canterbury 13 per cent. Waikato had a 2.7 per cent increase, which the staffer said was due to filed being reassigned and appearing twice. 'Unable to investigate further' The OIA also includes a template that had been created to send to victims whose crimes did not meet the threshold. The email thanked the victims for reporting their crime but said they "regret to advise, at this time, Police is unable to investigate further". "While we would like to resolve all matters to our victims' complete satisfaction, there are occasions where we cannot. "Investigations are prioritised using a range of factors including legal timeframes and the likelihood of a successful conviction." The email said police appreciated this may be "frustrating and upsetting" to hear, "particularly if you reported the incident recently or provided lines of enquiry". "We will however review your case if our ability to resolve this matter changes." Police Minister Mark Mitchell told RNZ he was "pleased that the Police Commissioner moved quickly to clarify Police's position, initiate a review of relevant cases, and reassure the retail sector and the public that Police will continue to enforce the law with their usual discretion". Review under way Police earlier launched a review to establish how many cases of retail crime were filed while the controversial directive was in place. A police spokesperson earlier confirmed to RNZ the national value threshold applied to the prioritisation of lower-level theft and fraud offences was being removed. "A review is being completed on any cases that may have been impacted by those thresholds to assess whether they should be assigned to districts for follow-up," the spokesperson said. The review will be done by police's data quality team. "Police want to reassure that cases will continue to be managed locally balancing demand, resources and priorities to ensure the best possible service to victims in those communities." Rachael Bambery, Executive Director Service, Victims, Resolutions said it was not correct to assume that all the closures were due to the monetary thresholds for early case closure. Some may have had no information or evidence to follow up on. She confirmed police were completing a review on files that were closed previously due to the monetary threshold. That review was focused on identifying and pursuing any outstanding lines of enquiry.
Scoop
33 minutes ago
- Scoop
One In Court Following Incident In Hawke's Bay
A woman is before the courts following an incident resulting in a hospital and nearby schools to be put into lockdown in Hastings. Police were called to Hawke's Bay Hospital at 1.20pm on Wednesday 23 July, after a report of a person possibly in possession of a firearm. The hospital and nearby schools were put into lockdown as a precaution while Police made enquiries. Incidents like this are taken seriously by Police, and no firearm was located in this matter. Regardless, incidents like this cause major disruption to the health system and cause anxiety to many members of the public. A 21-year-old woman is due to reappear in Hastings District Court on 4 August, charged with threats of harm to people or property.
