blogging it real

Police Commissioner Rob Robinson, said tonight that any unprofessional or criminal behaviour by Police was neither tolerated nor condoned. Responding to Television 3’s 20/20 programme, the Commissioner said the vast majority of Police past and present did a thoroughly professional job with the highest standards of integrity.

This is an extract from the press statement the honourable Police Commissioner Rob Robinson released in March 2004 after the media raised allegations that groups of Rotorua police for were gang raping women in the 1980s.

The allegations, which the lady also made to police in the mid-1990s and yet were swept under the carpet for a decade, proved serious and credible enough for these former policemen to now be standing trial.

(And to think the police (10/30) were rated a more trustworthy occupation than journalists (25/30) in the latest Readers Digest trustworthy profession poll.)

One of the country's top police officers, Assistant Commissioner Clinton Rickards, and two former police officers, Bradley Shipton and Robert Schollum, are before Rotorua District Court judge Chris McGuire for a depositions hearing on a raft of 20 collective charges. All three have denied the allegations strenuously.

Anyhows, some readers may be unaware that Police Commissioner Robinson also worked at the Rotorua police station for the Criminal Investigation Bureau, albeit for a short period, in 1985.

While Mr Robinson may now be making grandiose public statments about police integrity - and this is straight from the Herald's court report - it appears unprofessional behaviour is indeed tolerated, perhaps even encouraged, within the police:

The men were interviewed in 1995 and each acknowledged a consensual sexual relationship with Louise Nicholas, including a group sexual encounter.

Lets remember here - regardless of whether it was rape or consensual sex - that groups of policemen were fucking teenage girls during work hours and while in uniform:

Mrs Nicholas said she had twice seen a marked police car at, or near, Louise's flat when Louise had called her to come.....

What I find difficult to understand, Mr Robinson, is that despite Rickards 1995 admissions here's a story from the Waikato Times showing you urged Rickards to take up a position as a police commissioner:

Clint Rickards, Waikato police district commander, has been appointed to a plum role as one of three assistant police commissioners, based in the capital. Mr Rickards began his new job earlier this week. His appointment was to come into effect in October, but Police Commissioner Rob Robinson wanted him to start early. "He said I had my fingers in the pie already, so I might as well come down and start the job early," Mr Rickards said from Wellington today.

Do you really expect the public to believe, Mr Robinson, that you were unaware of what Rickards and co. were getting up to in Rotorua when you worked there?

Indeed, here's another press release where you are appointing Clint Rickards to the Auckland district commander position in 2003.

Were you really ignorant of the fact, Mr Robinson, that the man you were promoting was investigated by the police for rape and admitted to engaging in group sex?

In fact, Mr Robinson, despite Rickards admitting to engaging in this behaviour and having a rape allegation hanging over his head you promoted him all the way to 2nd top cop.

How can it be that you now claim the police neither condone nor tolerate unprofessional behaviour and yet you happily had this officer as your right-hand man?

Correct me if I'm wrong, Mr Robinson, but it appears this type of behaviour is indeed "condoned", or at the very least your record shows you "tolerated" it for nearly two decades.

An educated guess would say that the Police Commissioner, which afterall is the highest position in the police force, would have known of these serious allegations against senior staff, especially considering these men were once you colleagues, yet it seems you promoted Rickards nonetheless.

Your actions, Mr Robinson, seem to suggest that you yourself do not achieve the "highest standards of integrity" you attribute to "vast majority of police past and present".

Mr Robinson, the public may be interested to know if you believe your actions meet the level of integrity required as an officer of the law?

And if not Mr Robinson, should you resign?

Further, Mr Robinson, when the evidence strongly suggests you've willfully ignored these most serious allegations do you choose to run to the media when police officers are found to have mostly harmless porn on their e-mails?

Why did you not make it clear to the public that ordinary police actually do not have widespread internet access - they can only send and recieve e-mails - and that therefore make it obvious the police are not actually sitting at work trawling the world wide web for porn?

Finally, Mr Robinson, is it true you are nothing more than a political puppet who takes the rap and sells out ordinary officers in order to take the heat off the bumbling fool that is the police minister?

I eagerly await your reply.

Cheers,
Bennyasena