19 August 2005

Whose Crime Is It Anyway?

New Zealand First spokesman on Law and Order Ron Mark believes that the police found guilty of dangerous driving following the Prime Minister’s notorious motorcade dash last year have been used as fall guys.

“The crime here is that they were charged at all,’ said Mr Mark.

“Thankfully, the charges against the other officers in the cars at the time were withdrawn. It would have been a travesty if they, too, had been convicted of aiding dangerous driving, as passengers, when certain other passengers were not.

‘It is also good to know that the Commissioner is standing by his word that they will not face internal disciplinary charges in addition to the criminal ones. Now, hopefully, they can get on with their jobs and their lives.

“After all, that’s what they were doing on the day – their jobs. They made a judgment call based on the information they had to hand at the time. It is a pity that information was not full and frank, and New Zealanders are not fooled for one moment as to who should have spoken up. “New guidelines on motorcades will help other police and diplomatic drivers in the future to know under what circumstances they can exceed normal traffic rules – and it won’t be to get a VIP to a rugby game.

“But they come too late for the two police officers and civilian driver, who were, after all, just doing their duty as they saw it,’ concluded Mr Mark.

ENDS

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