Personal Statement From Rochelle Rees

Personal Statement From Rochelle Rees, One Of The Animal Rights Campaigners Who Found The Tracking Device.

I feel angry and overwhelmed at the lengths both the New Zealand Police and private investigation firm Thompson & Clark Investigations Ltd (TCIL) are taking to determine and control the movements of political activists, including myself.

I am confident that that tracking device found on April 22nd was placed by TCIL on behalf of the New Zealand Pork Industry Board. We know the Pork Industry Board has in the past used the services of TCIL, and are currently desperate to avoid further PR damage caused by activists exposing the conditions on NZ pig farms.

Just last week I was confronted by two men who turned up at my community board meeting to deliver a trespass notice for the Roto-o-Rangi pig farm. The men refused to say who they were or who they were working for. Two other activists were confronted at their places of work for the same thing. While I have no issue being trespassed from private property, this is clearly an attempt by the Pork Industry Board to intimidate us and prevent us exposing the practices on their farms.

This isn't the first time TCIL have been caught infriltrating and spying on activist groups. In 2007 two private spies were caught infiltrating a number of political campaigns, including Save Happy Valley, Peace Action Wellington, and the Wellington Animal Rights Network. In 2008 Robert Gilchrist ousted TCIL a second time after director Gavin Clark approached him to also spy for them. Gilchrist was later exposed as a police spy of 10 years, something Clark was aware of from his time in the police. Emails later discovered between Gilchrist and Clark show that for a period Gilchrist was taking double pay to spy on activists for both police and TCIL.

Pictures of the device as it was pulled off the car can be found at: http://www.animalfreedom.org.nz/gps-tracking-device.html