A visit from the Police

[strayjuliet]

I would contest it as it is 1 persons word against anothers. If he has not been in trouble before for anything he may get diversion which is basically a bit of community service and no criminal record. Also he won't have to appear in court and he may be able to do that diversion in Chch. Dont quote me on that. To clear up some issues: yes, they do pay for a witness to appear in court. If they won't allow you to have the case heard in Chch then you might be able to ask them for some kind of help with travel costs. I'm not sure if they will help or not, but they did for me once when I had to appear in court. Good luck.

[kerryg]

II still think that technically it was guilty, but I wasn't interested in holding out for a lost cause. Which would only have had the effect of either the same as a not guilty verdict, or of putting all those concerned through it all again. And I also felt that the police had been rather over zealous in charging the guy in the first place (it was a "domestic " type thing, but not the usual nasty sort of one, they were both good people who had lost the plot for a bit, counselling would have been a better option).

Sounds like justice was served then in this case, at least no worries about an innocent person being convicted because of one lunatic and a few geriatrics on the jury....but I guess it doesn't always work out OK like this case did, and that's the worry.

[Lou Girardin]

Mark Lundy supporters have a web site full of conspiracy theories too.

http://www.lundytruth.co.nz/

Then of course there is David Bain, Leslley Martin etc etc etc. The police got it wrong in these case too despite the numerous appeal decisions saying that they got it right.

The appeal process. A system devised to protect the justice system at all costs.
The Thomas and Ellis cases are prime examples.
The only way the truth was exposed in the Thomas case was through the efforts of a journalist and the employment of an Australian to adjudicate.
Apparently everyone else ( 2 appeals) believed that a .22 case could sit unnoticed in the Crews garden for 2 months and still be nice and shiny and have held a bullet that had never been loaded into those cases.
The sooner that prosecution duties are removed from the Police and given to an independant body, the better.

[Sniper]

You know Lou, at the first oppertunity of bashing Police, you are always on the bandwagon!

[Lou Girardin]

You know Lou, at the first oppertunity of bashing Police, you are always on the bandwagon!

Yup, that's right. Just me and me alone. Read all the posts yet?

[Sniper]

It would be very hard to read all the posts but the just of it is, where there is police bashing going on, you are always involved! Its not cool as those guys are just doing thier jobs.

They don't slag salesmen

[madboy]

I always get excused from jury duty. Every time I get called up I write in and say I don't like the Police, don't believe a word they say, and therefore am unable to provide a balanced opinion. On one occasion that failed and they told me I still had to appear, so I rang them up, explained in no uncertain terms that I hated the f***ing pigs and what was the f***ing point of wasting my time and theirs by even thinking of putting me on a jury when I would be saying not guilty before the first pig opened their mouth. I think after that colourful expression of my views they kinda got the gist.

And despite my colourful references above, which are not strictly representative of my views, the underlying basis is true. I have had cops perjure themselves in trials against me, so I have no faith that they would be any more honest in any other case.

Difficult to provide a balanced view, since only the accused will know whether the cop is being honest or not, and as a juror I won't. I dare say in my trials had there been a jury selected they would have fallen for what the cops said.

That's not to say the accused won't be lying their ass of either, hey I have before too. But I'm not the one wearing the neatly pressed uniform claiming to be serving justice.

SD/SC, nothing personal fellas, but your colleagues have tarred my opinion of everyone involved in this sorta thing.

And as for those salesmen... OMG Sniper how could you think that a salesman would ever lie?!! (pt)

[Paul in NZ]

The sooner that prosecution duties are removed from the Police and given to an independant body, the better.

Might be tempted to agree with you on this one Lou... Do you mean like a District Attourney type deal as per the USA?

Seperation of the Policing function from the Prosecution / court type function does have some good points... The problem is the Prosecution tends to become a Govt / political thing...

[Deano]

SD/SC, nothing personal fellas, but your colleagues have tarred my opinion of everyone involved in this sorta thing.

Unfortunately that is often the case, where a bad experience changes your whole viewpoint.

I once got called in to a police station 'on suspicion' of an offence when I was about 18 or 19. He was pretty rude about the request, basically demanding I go straight there.

Naively, I went by myself, and was asked to follow the officer to his office.

He began asking questions about the 'supposed offence'. To be honest, from his perspective it may have looked suspicious, but when he outright accused me of something I didn't do, and wouldn't believe a word I said in my defence, I started to get a bit anxious at my predicament.

As I had not been placed under arrest, I said I did not appreciate the way in which I was asked to come down to the station, and then to be treated the way I was, and started to get up out my chair to leave.

The officer stuck his foot on the chair between my legs to stop me moving and poked his finger into my cheek - then had a good old rant.

The same officer got busted for fraud a few months later, but was allowed to remain in the force, he just got transferred to an area.

Certainly made an impression on me - while I feel the majority of cops are honest and do a good job, not all cops can be trusted.

It definitely develops a culture of saying nothing until you have a lawyer present, which in itself does not look good if you don't have an explanation at the time of questioning.

[scumdog]

Yes I know, but any complaint has to be followed up right? and boys will be boys nothing has ever changed there...... may be I should have got a pic of the hole a 1200 Sportster dug in a paddock on the west coast in Jan this year

BTW yes SC/SD I too get sick of the moaners going on and on about the cops not doing real work

It was my evil twin brother and he told me he was stuck in the paddock and the throttle jammed and that is the last time he's borrowing my bike....

[Jantar]

I have had cops perjure themselves in trials against me, so I have no faith that they would be any more honest in any other case.

Interesting. I have defended traffic cases in court more than once, and I can honestly say that I have never had a police officer perjure himself. They may not give all information unless asked directly, but perjury would be just too much of a risk to take.

However Traffic Wardens now....

[Lou Girardin]

It would be very hard to read all the posts but the just of it is, where there is police bashing going on, you are always involved! Its not cool as those guys are just doing thier jobs.

They don't slag salesmen

Spud does.
Anyhoo, why do you think there is so much criticism of the Police in general recently?
A conspiracy?
The Labour Government?
Or perhaps it's because the public is fed up with bullshit, cover ups and incompetence.
If you think any of the posts critical of the Police are untrue, why not post the truth rather than indulge in personal attacks.

[kerryg]

Yup, that's right. Just me and me alone. Read all the posts yet?

It's good we have democracy where people can express their views, whether we share them or not.

Generalisations (all cops are bad cops, or all cops are good cops) are not that useful but it's OK to make them for the purpose of making a point: they can't possibly be valid for all or possibly even very many of the thousands of individuals involved, and I doubt anybody would contend otherwise.

It's a tool for debate, and debate is good

[Lou Girardin]

Might be tempted to agree with you on this one Lou... Do you mean like a District Attourney type deal as per the USA?

Seperation of the Policing function from the Prosecution / court type function does have some good points... The problem is the Prosecution tends to become a Govt / political thing...

I prefer the UK system. I don't trust the elected DA system the Yanks use. It's far too open to political influence.

[dangerous]

It would be very hard to read all the posts but the just of it is, where there is police bashing going on, you are always involved! Its not cool as those guys are just doing thier jobs.

They don't slag salesmen

Mate... dont worry bout it, the great thing about this forum is that we can say what we want just like you are... so let Lou be Lou, I like to hear what every body has to say not just the prats with there "PC" shit thing happening it would be a boreing place if that was so