The Press
March 6, 2004

Similarities between police and gangs evident
Letter to the Editor
by Fina Chapman, South Brighton

Louise Nicholas claimed she had been raped by a pack of Maori youths and then later recanted (March 4). The police themselves admit that gang members at that time saw the police as just another kind of gang (February 28).

The unfortunate similarities do keep coming to light: drunken parties, access to drugs, sexual coercion of vulnerable girls, covering each others backs.

But if you were in Louise Nicholas's unenviable position, who do you think would seem more believable as rape perpetrators: the uniformed gang, or the ethnic gang?

There can be no confidence in a police force that demonstrates attitudes and behaviour akin to those it aims to police.