9. Question No. 9—PoliceHon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National) to the Minister of PoliceQuestion No. 9—Police9. Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National) to the Minister of Police: Does he agree with the Prime Minister who said There's been no substantiation to the allegations that people on checkpoints had had guns pulled on them. If anyone wants to report that that happened they should do so to the police" and is he aware an incident was reported to police by the victims?Hon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Defence) on behalf of the Minister of Police: Yes and yes.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Why was a journalist able to easily substantiate the claim but the Police Commissioner and the Minister weren't and why was their initial reflex to minimise the claim?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: The facts behind this matter are that the police received a 111 call on the day in question from the manager of a roading crew—the manager who was not present at the time of the events—to report allegations made by the roading crew. Later in the day police attended on the manager and the crew to ascertain further information and according to the advice from the police obtained no information of evidential value but nevertheless referred the matter to the local Criminal Investigation Branch and it is now in the hands of a detective sergeant for further investigation.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Does he believe Kylie on a roadblock who told Newsroom "If the Government says there's no such thing as looting or it's being exaggerated—I say liar liar pants on fire." and is she voicing reasonable concerns about what's going on in her community or is she one of the people whipping up hysteria that he referred to in the House yesterday?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: It's very important—again on behalf of the Minister of Police—that when allegations of crimes are made they are reported to the police. It's equally important that the police follow up those reports and those complaints. Both of those things happened in this case. So far the police have not been able to obtain anything of evidential value but it remains under investigation.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Was Di another Hawke's Bay local who told Newsroom "They'll take anything. Generators gas bottles anything they can find. … These gangs are organised they're more organised than the police." again voicing reasonable concerns about what's going on in her community or whipping up hysteria as the Minister said in the House yesterday?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: On behalf of the Minister of Police I back New Zealanders who when they see criminal offending happening report it to the police and I back our New Zealand police force when they receive reports to follow them up appropriately and professionally and investigate and bring those who commit crimes to order.Hon Paul Goldsmith: What on earth was he thinking when he said on Monday that "Now is not the time" for gangs to loot and predate on vulnerable victims of the floods and does he acknowledge that such statements make his Government look ridiculous?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: On behalf of the Minister of Police it's very important that the Minister of Police supports our professional police force to do their job to uphold law and order—and in the very difficult circumstances of a civil emergency when entire communities are under considerable distress because of the things that have happened to them that the maximum support is given to the police to do their job to uphold law and order to respond to complaints of criminal offending and to investigate them accordingly. That's what I was doing and that's what is happening."