Allegations of abuse by NZ Police
	peterellis Home / police allegations / Rickards, Shipton, Schollum vs Jane Doe Page 6 - Further Reaction to Not Guilty Verdict
	Newstalk ZB March 5 2007; 05:24 Police tainted by sex trial Police claim their reputation is suffering from the police sex case. Suspended district police commander Clint Rickards and former officers Brad Shipton and Bob Schollum were acquitted of kidnap and rape charges in the high profile case, but police on the beat say they are facing a new taunt when they are on duty. It is believed many of Mr Rickards' colleagues are unsettled by the fallout from the case. One Auckland policeman, who did not want to be named, says it is now common for officers to be called rapists by the people they are arresting. He says staff feel as if they have been tarred with the same brush as former officers Shipton and Schollum who, it was revealed after the High Court case, are already serving jail terms for the rape of a woman in Mt Maunganui in the late 1980s. Newstalk ZB has been told that a large proportion of police do not think Mr Rickards should return to work as a police chief and are deeply concerned about public confidence in the force if he was to be reinstated. After the trial, Mr Rickards criticised the investigation which brought the charges against him saying it was an investigation he would have been ashamed to lead. Some officers around the country are holding sweepstakes over the future of Mr Rickards who says he wants his job back and will even consider legal action to get it.