Finally, some proof that our justice system works.

With the exception of David Bain no one will ever know the full truth of what happened all those years ago, but todays outcome is the only one that makes sense.

Quite simily the Police botched the original investigation, destroyed evidence and in general did not act in a very professional manner.

That introduces doubt and that is the outcome today, doubt.

Fantastic, well done, members of the jury.

Today’s brutal shooting of a Police Officer doing his job is another sad chapter in the apparent increase in violence involving guns and drugs in NZ.

Kiwiblog puts it in perspective:

“Three officers have been killed in the last nine months. To put that into context, there were only three officers killed from 1991 to 2007.”

The thin blue line just got thinner, and it is unfortunate that unless a large crack down is made on gun, gangs and drugs more innocent people will be killed, and the thin blue line will become thinner, and the number of people entering the force will decline further.

Action needs to be taken now to ensure that the police are able to do their job safely and continue to protect the community.

And that action is not more laws for an underpowered police force to enforce. It is more border security. Stopping the flow of precurser drugs, stopping the flow of weapons and ammo, dealing with low end offenders, the kids with weed at school, stop them at the grass roots level, once they hit the top the only way out is through a final blazen showdown, and we have had enough of it.

Okay I have only just got back from Parachute so I have not had any time to read up on the background of what happened, I only saw the 3news story tonight, and I brought a copy of the Hearld from a service station on the way back to Auckland to find out more.

Firstly the whole issue reminds me of the CSI episode ‘A Bullet Runs Through It’ where a cop is accidentialy killed in crossfire from another officer’s gun.

The reality is this though:

• The Criminal was going to kill people before he was shot, if he was not shot when he was, I’m sure more than one innocent person would have been killed.
• It was an intense scene and unfortuantely things unfold very quickly, sure you can analyse things after the fact and ask lots of what if questions but it can’t change what happened.
• Calling for a Manslaughter charge for the Officer who shot is silly. It is baying for blood, and revenge is not actually the best remedy in these situations, it just creates more pain. A manslaughter charge wouldn’t hold anyway because the Officer did not intend in anyway to harm the innocent man.
• Overuse of drugs and painting the criminal as a victim of his own stupidity just doesn’t wash. He chose to take P, he chose to do the things that he did, he deserves to pay the full cost, and the full penalty for it.
• No matter how tough you make the law, people will still break it, so calling for tougher laws is silly when the drugs are already illegal.

A major hallmark of democracy is the ability to criticize the Government and to take protest action against it. A democracy is driven by the people not by the leaders. That is what makes the spying scandal more outrageous the mere fact that the police, the leaders in society are spying on those people who drive the society. This really grinds me.

The second is the SIG. Set up post 9/11. WAKE ME UP WHEN SEPTEMBER ENDS. It has been 7 years already. We cannot use one terrorist attack killing 3,000 or so people in a country on the otherside of the world to justify our local actions or international wars killing hundreds of thousands for the next century. The madness must stop now.

I have been very busy over the last few weeks and haven’t had much time to blog or do anything much online. But I have been trying to follow the Police Spying Scandal because as the days role on it is getting deeper and much murkier.

Okay for those who haven’t been following the news recently here is a quick update: Last Sunday the Sunday Star Times (Newspaper) revealed that an key political activist was actually a police spy who had infutrated a number of left wing groups. He was reporting to the SIG a group set up after the 9/11 attacks in America to combat terrorism. The Police immediately claimed that the SIG was acting within its boundaries protecting NZ and not spying on activist groups. Since then it has been revealed that the Police through its SIG Counter-Terrorism Spying Taskforce has been spying on a number of political action groups, climate change groups, Greenpeace, the Green Party (yes the political party in parliament), a number of major workers Unions incluing UNITE, and the NDU, and students’ associations especially VUWSA.

Now this is nuts. There is a clear boundary between what is terrorism, what is a terrorist action, what is a threat to national security and the actions of small political lobby groups. I personally believe that if you have done nothing wrong then you should have nothing to hide. But that is not the issue here, the issue is police used a counter terrorism unit to spy on many harmless, democratic and legal political lobby groups.

There are two columns in today’s HoS which add more to this story (and be sure to read the other articles as well there are heaps of them – google is showing over 100 stories written already (http://news.google.co.nz/news?oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&client=firefox-a&um=1&tab=wn&nolr=1&hl=en&q=police+spying&btnG=Search+News)

The first is Bill Ralston who calls for an inquiry into the issue:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10549093

Initially John Key, sensibly, said only those who “present a real or credible risk to the safety and security of communities” should be the subject of such investigations. He then passed the issue on to Judith Collins to sort out.

She spoke to Broad and promptly ruled out any need for an inquiry, saying Broad had assured her police were “meeting their responsibilities”. Hiding behind the old “Governments can’t interfere in police operations” line, Collins blithely accepted Broad’s assurance they were not targeting groups but individuals who might commit criminal acts.

Wrong. Emails from their spy show the SIG was targeting the activities of entire unions, including the EPMU, the CTU, the Maritime Union, and the Unite union.

Its spy also infiltrated the Green Party and reported on the plans of Greenpeace, conservation groups, climate change organisations, animal rights groups, and anti-war protesters.

Oh yes, police also used SIG surveillance to protect its own vested interests, targeting anti-Taser protests and investigating a man who is trying to take action against the police after he was pepper-sprayed.

The SIG was set up and received funding after 9/11 to combat the threat of terrorism. None of the groups listed even remotely come near that description. The SIG seems oblivious to the fact that peace groups are, by their very nature, largely peaceful in intent and, ironically, one of its targets, Greenpeace, is the only victim of terrorism in New Zealand.

You have to watch those dangerous unions. In emails to the SIG, its spy breathlessly reports that the NDU and EPMU were having a day of action and locked-out workers would be planning pickets and making banners. Shocking criminal acts that surely imperilled the safety and security of the community.

What has happened is that, in the hysteria after 9/11, the police got a big budget to set up the SIG which then found it had no real terrorism to combat. To protect its budget and its reason for being, the SIG and police then busied themselves with trivia.

Collins has more than enough evidence to show the SIG was acting outside its brief. She should set up a ministerial inquiry, with a QC or someone like the Ombudsman, verify the facts and get serious about cutting costs by axing the unit.

Yes that is right. The police are spying on the only group ever in NZ to have been targeted by terrorism! (and for those with poor knowledge of NZ history it is a reference to the 1986 bombing of the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland Harbour by the French Secret Service.

The second column is by Matt McCarten head of the Unite Union and a victim of the police spying:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10549080

These groups which were being spied on are incorporated societies carrying out legitimate work on behalf of their members and supporters. They are democratic and transparent. No one has ever accused them of criminal behaviour, let alone terrorism.

…

Gilchrist started collecting information on our union three years ago. At that time we were running our SupersizeMyPay campaign, set up to abolish youth wages and raise the minimum wage to $12 an hour.

Through a combination of employer negotiations, community demonstrations and parliamentary lobbying, we won. Tens of thousands of workers have since had their wages lifted by more than $3 an hour, in large part because of this campaign, and youth wages were scrapped.

Are our spies seriously suggesting minimum wage workers and school kids working in fast-food restaurants were part of a budding al Qaeda network?

The actions of this spy unit go to the heart of our democracy. Frankly, their actions are worse than the so-called danger they claim to want to protect us from. What could be more of a threat to our society than a secret police force paying undercover “Walter Mitty-type” informants to infiltrate and secretly report on civil and political groups? Isn’t that what totalitarian governments do?

…

A meat worker who ran as a communist candidate in the last election was detained at Auckland Airport for four hours after returning from Australia. She was subjected to a humiliating strip search. Nothing was found. But what was disturbing is the Customs officers spent the whole time grilling her on her political activity and were well aware of her history.

The only way you can explain this is that a file has been compiled on her and given to other state agencies. If this doesn’t worry New Zealanders, we’re in real trouble.

…

The new Prime Minister, John Key, should agree to the request by the targeted unions for a full inquiry. If the unit has been spying on organisations carrying out lawful work, it should be disbanded and the Police Commissioner sacked.

In future, when our political leaders tell us we need greater police power to fight terrorism, just be aware it has little to do with keeping us safe and everything to do with keeping us under control.

And so we end up back with a scene from V For Vendetta.

People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.

Now there is absolutely no denying that the storm that has hit us during the last two days has been particularly nasty, however, one thing that is getting to me is the way the media blow it up, and the way in which the general public then go into panic mode. I had a friend telling me that the motorway was closed and they shouldn’t be driving because there are slips and stuff. The irony here is that the motorway was never closed and the person couldn’t explain to me how you could get a slip in the middle of central Auckland where there are no hills to slip.

Coming back to the one in 10 year storm idea. Compare these two police media release pages. The first is for yesterday. The second is for July 10 2007. One year ago. Where we got hit by a very similar storm which took out power up here for two days. 48 hours. Not 3. And that was a year ago, not 10.

26 July 2008:

10 July 2007:

A man charged over the theft of items from a Canadian family staying at an Auckland hotel has been granted bail.Peter Malcolm Black, 42, who has the same surname as the Canadian family, was bailed to a South Auckland address when he appeared in the Auckland District Court yesterday.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10487658

This move seriously weakens my trust in the New Zealand justice system. Earlier in the week we have 6 Police Officers turn up to stop a parent from flicking his son on the ear once. But, on the other hand, we have a serious fraudster who brought disgrace to this country being bailed.

This isn’t the only serious criminal granted bail yesterday.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10487665

The 16-year-old appeared in the Youth Court and was granted bail.

A 16 year old who was a part of a gang of four who violently beat 4 adults is also granted bail. What is this country coming to? Do you have to be a violent offender in order to be free? Are the police to afraid to deal with serious crime? Something needs to be done here.

A Dargaville man has been charged with driving a ride-on lawnmower while drunk.The 52-year-old was seen by police driving through the Northland town at 9.30pm yesterday.He was stopped and asked to get the mower off the road. The police officer then discovered the man was a disqualified driver who had been drinking.

Northland police communications officer Sarah Kennett said the man recorded a breath test of more than twice the legal limit.

The lawnmower was impounded for 28 days and the man is to appear in Dargaville District Court this week facing charges of careless driving, driving while disqualified and driving with excess breath alcohol.

You have to love our police force. Impounding a lawn mower. In no way to I condone Drink Driving but charging someone for driving a lawn mower is pretty funny. Who is he going to mow down? The grass?

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10486979

Okay I haven’t blogged in a while, but got three news related blogs to do this morning. Firstly.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10486718

A father police warned for reprimanding his son by a flick to the ear wants the warning removed from his record.

Professional musician Jimmy Mason flicked his three-year-old son Seth after a biking accident involving his two-year-old son Zach who had injured his eye.

“Seth just wanted to go on riding. He didn’t realise the seriousness of it with the youngest one slipping in and out of consciousness,” Mr Mason told The Press newspaper.

“So I turned to Seth and flicked him on the ear and told him to shut up while we fixed up the young one.”

Police were called by an off-duty police officer.

It was “pretty bizarre” being surrounded by six police officers trying to ascertain whether it was safe for the children to go home with him, Mr Mason said.

He took his sons biking daily and they needed to obey his instructions to stay safe.

“When I say ’stop’ to the kids they have got to stop.” he said.

He was not charged but told that a warning would go on his record.

“It needs to be on record that I disciplined him for something he deserved, not that I’m a child beater.”

He was considering legal action to get the warning removed, Mr Mason said.

Inspector Rick Jury told the paper police had some discretion in deciding whether to prosecute.

One of the law’s clauses allowed parents to use some force for the purpose of minimising harm.

It was only a matter of time before this happened. A warning for flicking someone across the ear, who was acting in a dangerous manner? 6 cops to speak to a harmless parent, being a good parent? The police should be focusing on serious crime such as serious assults, drugs, burglaries and gangs, not taking cheap shots at parents being good parents.

The only positive that I got out of this was from a discussion I was having with some friends. They said the police may have deliberately sent so many cops to overreact to demonstrate how bad the law is. Cops trying to bring down the rule of law, who would of thought?

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10427931

A woman who called Napier police this morning to report a burglary became so upset she broke down in tears – although the police communications officer who took the initial call couldn’t stop smiling.

The call left senior sergeant Mal Lochrie shaking his head as he explained that the woman had called to report the theft of three marijuana plants which she had growing in pots outside.

She also bitterly complained that it was the fourth year in a row someone had sneaked on to her Ahuriri property and made off with her marijuana plants.

Mr Lochrie said the woman told the communications operator she was a good person and was sick and tired of “low-lifes” stealing her things.

“The community constable is going around to see her later to have a bit of a chat,” Mr Lochrie said.

- HAWKE’S BAY TODAY

Andrew Chan And Myuran Sukumaran are now facing death by firing squad in Bali. A penalty that is opposed by the Australian Government.

However, the worst thing about the sentance is that the Australian Fedral Police (A department of the Australian Government) gave the information about the drugs to the Indonesian Police. This got these Australian citizens arrested in Indonesia and facing penalties that the Australian government is against. The Fedral Police could of arrested the members of the Bali 9 when they arrived back in Australia, and they would not be putting the lives of their own citizens at risk.

The end reality is that the Australian government has put international politics before the lives and safety of its own citizens. The very citizens that elected it to government to protect themselves and their nation. Shame on you John Howard, Shame on you the government of Australia, Shame on you.

True politicians, honest leaders do not sell out their own citizens.