Back in January we learned that the police were using the military to do an end-run around legal limits on surveillance. So how many times has this happened? Someone was curious, and used FYI, the public OIA request site, to find out:
During the last three calendar years the NZDF has provided surveillance assistance to the NZ Police on a total of fifteen occasions, as follows:So this abuse of military power appears to be increasing, as police search for new ways of bypassing the legal restrictions we place on them.
2010 RNZAF One
2011 RNZN One RNZAF Five
2012 RNZAF Eight
This is not something we should tolerate. The NZDF is (supposedly) for defending New Zealand, not for spying on the public. This use of military force for ordinary domestic policing is well beyond the powers contemplated by Parliament, or the public. If the military isn't going to stop doing this, then Parliament must make them stop - either legislatively, or by taking their toys away so they cannot abuse them (and us) in this manner.
