Andrew Dickens Afternoons

There's an old political wisdom that if you've got bad news to tell, drop the news last thing on Friday so it gets buried by the weekend. So I was a bit confused to be watching One News on Friday with John Campbell oozing and gesticulating all over the screen, telling a story that on the surface seemed to be good news. 1News exclusively revealed that nearly 40,000 charges have been laid with over 8,300 people arrested to date as part of Operation Cobalt, their operation against gang activities. The operation was originally set up after an intensive spate of Killer Beez and Tribesmen-linked shootings in Auckland last year. Police said the arrests include patched gang members, gang prospects, and gang associates. Over 400 firearms have been seized and more than 1,100 search warrants executed. By any metric this is a significant blow against organised crime. Now the cynic in me immediately thought the Labour Party has leaked this before the National Party conference, which we could all tell was going to be hard