Should charges be laid?

Consider this scenario:
A man is driving his car and parks it on a hill and stretches his legs. But he didn’t put the handbrake on and the car rolls back and kills your toddler as he was crossing the road. As a parent of this toddler, do you think this man should be charged with careless use of a motor vehicle causing death?

The reason I ask this is because a similar event recently occurred. I`ll call it scenario two.

Mr Macwan, who was driving got out of the Toyota Hiace van to stretch his legs when the vehicle suddenly rolled backwards and plunged into Lake Dunstan. The adults and an 11-year-old escaped but 3-year-old Aarush did not.

That three-year-old was the driver’s son. It’s tragic, and killing your own son in this way must be a life sentence in itself. The story goes on.

The same day police charged him with careless driving causing death. He is due to appear in the Alexandra District Court on Wednesday.

Having to appear in court, charged with accidentally killing your son, on the same week as dealing with your son’s death and arranging and attending that son’s funeral must be tragic.

Some have called for police to show compassion on a man who already has a “life sentence” and not charge this man. Essentially, what they are calling for is for police to decide whether this man should get a criminal conviction for breaking the law – but base that decision solely on matters outside the law.

But convictions are for the courts to decide, considering matters within the law. Others have said charge, but wait until the funeral is over before setting a court date. That illustrates compassion, while rightly giving the decision to the courts, not the police, as to whether this man should be convicted and sentenced.

To put the above two scenarios another way – if someone is likely to have broken the law, should the police decide whether he is a criminal by not prosecuting, or should the police let the courts decide if he should get a criminal conviction or not, by prosecuting?

And if they decide to prosecute, fair enough – but couldn’t they wait until after the funeral before setting a court date?

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Police attacks

Judith Collins has been thinking aloud. She wonders whether people who are convicted of attacks on police should be given harsher sentences as such attacks are attacks on the rule of law. On that reasoning, attacks by the rule of law - police officers who rape people while on duty, or offer sexual favours in lieu of issuing fines, or who drive home drunk in their police cars or beat up people while arresting them - should also be given harsher sentences. I wonder if the Police Minister would likewise agree and tell journalists.

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Opening and closing police stations

Labour's Clayton Cosgrove is moaning that police stations are about to be closed. He is commenting on a cabinet paper he got through the OIA that is looking at cost cutting in police. He notes that already 340 cars have been chopped from the police fleet.

That`ll stop six police cars attending a smacking case then, won’t it - and stop three police cars from attending a school after someone gets smacked. Cosgrove says police minister Judith Collins has some serious explaining to do.

So she did some explaining and explained that National have opened five police stations and is opening a sixth. She also explained that Labour had dozens of police stations earmarked for closure

Pity the NZ Herald didn’t know that.Perhaps it should have looked at this media release before writing this story on the closure of police stations.Now that Collins has responded with the announcement of the opening of five police stations this year, I wonder if the Herald will just updated it with quotes from the media relase. I bet you it doesn't know that that the the new Christchurch police station is merely replacing one from Sydenham.

update The Herald has updated its story. Oh dear. Quotes from a media relase. No investigation whatsoever.

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Police investigate offences they consider acceptable behaviour

Police have released another review of the Section 59 legislation.

Beth Wood from EPOCH says its all good news. That's because the Police state there is a reduction in smacking events attended in the past quarter. So why does Family First's Bob McCoskrie say there is a substantial jump?


Here's why. Police have divided corrective discipline into "smacking" and "minor forms of physical violence", the latter rate having gone up every quarter. I asked Belinda, who heads the Police team who did the report, what the distinction is between these two categories.

She defined smacking as a corrective smack on the bum with an open hand; which most people - even in the police, but perhaps not Sue Bradford - would view as acceptable discipline. She said there was no difference between smacks and minor forms of physical violence, but agreed that the latter constituted "something more than a smack on the bum" .

Like two smacks, perhaps.Which most people would also view as acceptable. She also agreed that the wording should have been " minor forms of physical discipline" as per the wording of the report and to reflect the corrective aspect of physical discipline, and the majority were of the kind that would be successful in a reasonable force defence in court. Any discipline with an implement is child assault.

So, Police consider most minor forms of physical violence are acceptable smacks. Police investigated over more than cases of corrective discipline since the law change, with an increase each quarter. Two were charged with assault so they were obviously not minor forms of physical violence.

Colin Espiner makes the point that law abiding parents haven't been prosecuted. Well, neither have parents who have been investigated and found to have inconsequentially broken physical discipline laws. Parents are being investigated for things that police view as acceptable, and they are incorrect to claim that they are attending less smacking events.

Mike Hosking does a pretty classic interview with Rob Pope; and also Sue Bradford and doesn`t believe a word she says.

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Police in Manakau are in "high spirits" after homicides

Police want everyone to know that crime is not escalating in Manakau.Detective Inspector John Timms said despite the number of homicide investigations in the area police were in high spirits and reassured the public that Counties-Manukau was a safe place.

"If you need assistance then it's important that you ring the police immediately," he said.

But theres one small matter. Most crime in Manakau is ignored by police. Once you have rung them, these high spirited police have to leave the police station and get somewhere in time. That's the issue. Police in Manakau are calling in reinforcements from outside the district to cope with crime because the number of sworn officers per head of population in Counties Manakau is the second-lowest in the country.

I wonder how many are on traffic duty.

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