��һ�ǿ�����

��Now we've had a full day to digest Mark Mitchell's letter to the Police Commissioner, was he actually out of line to release that?��

His Labour predecessor said on this show yesterday that Mark Mitchell was huffing and puffing, talking up a big game and chest beating.��

To quote Ginny Andersen, “I think it's a demonstration of bravado”, and then saying, "He's getting dangerously close to telling the Commissioner how to do his job.”��

Thing is, we all know there's a line between setting a strategic direction and meddling in day-to-day operational activities.��

Mark Mitchell noted that, loud and clear, in his letter.��

So, what the Minister was doing was not telling the Commissioner how to do the job, but outlining what the priorities of the job are.��

That's not meddling, it's managing.��

If you want an example of meddling, look no further than sacked Minister Stuart Nash on the phone to the Commissioner over a court case, hoping to persuade him to get prosecutors to appeal for a stiffer sentence.��

So why was Ginny squealing so loudly over this? Well probably because she knows Labour hasn't got a leg to stand on when it comes to law and order.��

Their priority was to slash the prison population, regardless of how much crime the rest of us had to endure.��

That would have meant Andrew Little's letter to the Chief Justice when he took office in 2017 was saying ‘hey... dial it back a bit would you?’��

‘Let's not lock up all these bad people... surely, it's OK to stick ankle bracelets on them, even when they're convicted of violent sex crimes or on trial for murder.’��

Didn't that work out well.��

Point here is that Mitchell's letter to the Commissioner is entirely normal. It's the way things are done.��

Issuing it publicly is called transparency. It puts pressure on Andrew Coster but it also sends a message to the front line.��

We've heard you, it says, and things are going to change.��

And now it's in the public domain, everyone knows what page we're on.��