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Why can’t the Police get the basics right?

by Whaleoil on August 12, 2012

ᔥ Nelson Mail

Kiwi’s are pretty forgiving, especially when it comes to bashing crims, but there seems to be a systemic problem within the Police, a legacy perhaps of the Broad/Clark years that means the basics aren’t being done properly:

Police used “unlawful and unnecessary” force to chainsaw their way into the Red Devils’ Nelson headquarters and obtained evidence improperly by breaching the defendants’ rights, a judge has found.

Judge Chris Tuohy yesterday threw out charges against 28 guests found at a party at the gang’s clubrooms during a raid in August 2010 under the Sale of Liquor Act.

A lawyer acting for some of the defendants likened the police expectations to the raid on MegaUpload founder Kim Dotcom’s Auckland mansion.

In the Red Devils case, Judge Tuohy ruled, after a hearing in June, that evidence gained by police during the search was not admissible, due to the way it was gained.

“The whole of the police evidence on these minor charges was improperly obtained through a series of breaches of the defendants’ rights, some of which were significant infringements,” he said in his written decision.

“In those circumstances, a credible system of justice demands the exclusion of evidence, and I rule accordingly.”

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  • blokeintakapuna

    Couldn’t blame the police for wanting to “get back” at the politicians for the disgraceful way Comrad Helen “I was in the back seat doing paperwork, so I don’t know how fast we were driving in a 50km/hr zone” Clark hung out her driver – but purposely making such cluster-fuck screw-ups has really got to stop!
    It’s bad enough the judiciary treat criminals like victims, wrapping them in cotton wool before the wet bus ticket slapping across the wrists with pathetic incarceration sentances – but surely the police and the Courts could get some of the basics right….

  • OneTrack

    Is this really a police problem or is it actually a judiciary problem?

    • Andrewo

      Exactly right.

      Bend over backwards ‘rights and entitlements’ laws get us into this mess. We’ll pay for Geoffrey Palmer’s mess for decades to come.

  • le sphincter

    What was Don Brashs excuse for the police driving on the footpath to get him to that match on time ?- Pedestrians walk on the roads all the time!

    • Liberty

      The footpath would have been the safest place.

      As the
      Witch was flying fast on her broom on that
      day.

  • Gazzaw

    Not hard these days for crims to get defence lawyers who are smarter than the judges.

  • Macca

    I don’t blame the cops or the politicians for this type of incident. I blame the legal advisers who draft the laws which are then instigated by the politicians on their legal advice but most of all I blame the judges for CONTINUALLY giving out pathetic, piss week sentences that do absolutely nothing to further deter offenders! These judges need to fucken wake up before they ruin the country totally!

  • kowtow

    Read the Nelson Mail article. The police got nothing wrong. The judge got it all wrong and clearly is trying to win the most out of touch judge award.
    This is police work against gangs. People who frequent illegal gang bars are supporting these thugs. There’s a bigger picture here.
    What the police did to these gang patrons has nothing to do with rights but it’s part of normal police operations.
    We sleep safely at night because of the boys in blue.

    • Macca

      Well said kowtow. The funniest thing is that dickheads like sphincter are the first one’s to criticise the police yet are also the first to go crying to them the second anything happens like getting threatened or having their house burgled etc

  • Liberty

    The Police have got it right. It’s the pedantic Judges
    who are more concerned about low life scum and vagrants than the rights of the law abiding public.

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/7460819/New-bail-conditions-allow-protester-to-use-new-site

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/7460799/Raid-on-Red-Devils-unlawful-judge

  • rockyr

    ”
    Police used “unlawful and unnecessary” force to chainsaw their way into the Red Devils’ Nelson headquarters and obtained evidence improperly by breaching the defendants’ rights, a judge has found.”

    The Judge’s decision would have made sense if he had disclosed how he would have made his way into the gang’s headquarters, and obtained the evidence without breaching any rights.

    • Gazzaw

      Maybe the cops should have phoned first and made an appointment Rocky. Where do they find these judges FFS? What’s happened to those old ‘hanging’ magistrates? I remember getting a ticket for running a red light in the 60s & in those days it was serious enough for me to get a lawyer as it required a court appearance. His highest priority was to avoid a hearing in front of a magistrate called McCarthy. The crims were scared shitless of him. He was just one of a number of magistrates and judges who dealt out real justice.

    • MrV

      Apparently you’re supposed to knock, and then wait for mr gang member to come to the door with tea and scones.

  • 2ndAmendment

    Yeah there was a problem with the police – they used a Chainsaw, not a Bushmaster & Frag grenades.

    The real fuckup here is the courts – just like the anti-terrorist trial.

    But the cops fucked up there too the same way the did here: not delivering results.

    What’s the point of a “Special Tactics Group” if they leave terrorists and gangsters alive?

    The RUC, the SAS, 2Para, the GIGN, GSG 9 and all the rest don’t make that mistake

    and that’s the most important mistake here

  • Mr_Blobby

    Given that the warrants for Dotcom have been found to be illegal does that mean that all the evidence seized is inadmissible?
    “Police used “unlawful and unnecessary” force”
    “In the Red Devils case, Judge Tuohy ruled, after a hearing in June, that evidence gained by police during the search was not admissible, due to the way it was gained.”
    “The whole of the police evidence on these minor charges was improperly obtained through a series of breaches of the defendants’ rights, some of which were significant infringements,” he said in his written decision.
    “In those circumstances, a credible system of justice demands the exclusion of evidence, and I rule accordingly.”

    Not on your nelly.
    1. The law does not apply to US interests.
    2. The Government doesn’t want to look bad to the US Masters.
    Can only imagine the pressure on the Government form the US to sort the mess out in there favor.

  • http://unsolicitedious.wordpress.com/ Unsolicitedious

    I think the judges’ have far more to answer than the police – I dont know what plant they are on, but it seems more and more have divorced themselves from anything pertaining to justice, even when the facts are staring them in the face.

    Re “a legacy perhaps of the Broad/Clark years that means the basics aren’t being done properly”
    I am not sure they police have ever gotten the basics rights – the potential for criminals to get off on a technicality seems to have always been common place. And then there is the issue of some police corrupting the course of justice (e.g. Allan Hall, Aaron Farmer, Jaden Knight & Phllip Johnston – see http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/2779008/Group-asks-for-murder-case-review, http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/4885266/Man-wrongly-jailed-for-rape-gets-Govt-payout and http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/4989039/Pair-to-get-paid-368-000-compensation)

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