Mandatory Car Immobilisers
A lot has been written about the studpidity of Labour’s plans to make car immobilisers mandatory to reduce car theft. Jim Peron has the best summary over at the Institute for Liberal Values.
His first three paragraphs sum it alll up:
Justice Minister Phil Goff wants to reduce car thefts by forcing automobile owners to install immobilisers. He admits this will cost at least $300 per car.
He justifies this expense for consumers because it will reduce “opportunistic” car thefts. No doubt it will. Mandatory curfews for women would reduce rape. And mandatory burglar bars and security gates would reduce break-ins.
But. Goff is substituting Nanny for the peace officer. Instead of protecting people from criminals he proposes a policy to force people to change how they live so the government’s failure to protect them isn’t as apparent. New Zealand has resources to enforce no smoking laws but inadequate funding to police car thefts.