Police files - a quick reprise...

There are several entries in here over the past twelve or so months relating to the NZ Police and the rather sad saga of what quickly became known as the “Louise Nicholas Case”. Essentially her case centred upon three senior officers, one of whom was on the point of being appointed to the “top cop” position of Commissioner.

Here,
and here,
and again, and ending with this one..

The Herald has published a series of grand washup articles yesterday, now that the last of the criminal charges have been heard and decided.

Start here,
here,
then here,
and lastly, here.

As a picture of NZ’s law enforcement organisation it is both sad and bad. That a small group of men, no more than the four or five who have faced the Court, can bring a proud tradition of community and trust to a sudden and shameful end is almost tragic. Added to the findings in the Bain murder case appeal to the House of Lords, and the last of the Coroner reports in the Wallace killing and the reading gets quite depressing.

A couple weeks back we went to Taupo for a few days of r&r and very enjoyable it was too! I actually scored my first ever speeding ticket – doing 113kph in a 100 area. Not that I am proud of it you understand, just that it has a direct connect to the Police. The guy who did the deed on me was polite, and, most important of all, he was right. A lapse of concentration on my part after driving nearly four hours, and I was just dead lucky not to get pinged at over 125kph. Actually “dead” lucky is not a nice thought...

I had a comment debate with someone just a short while back during which he concluded that I must spend half my time while driving watching the speedometer to make sure that I stayed within the limit. It occurred to me the other day that it was a whole lot simpler than that to “learn” the judgement of the speed I drive at.

Some years back we had a little Nissan Sentra. Damn good little car it were too!! It had one extremely annoying fault. At 109kph there was this little bell that started going “ding-dong”. I could never find the drive or the adjustment for it. The local Nissan agent refused point-blank to touch it “... because the speedo will stop working”. You get expert at driving 108.5kph quite quickly. You get to hear the engine note, the pitch of the tyre noise on the road. Most importantly you get to not hear the “ding-dong” at 109kph. Our Honda does not have such a sophisticated instrument...