Allegations of abuse by NZ Police
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	One News March 6 2007 Police minister slams mock posters Poster A poster campaign mocking police recruitment ads has gone up around Wellington saying joining the force is a great way to hear rape stories. But while some voice their outrage over senior officers being acquitted of historic sex crimes, Police Minister Annette King says the poster campaign is an appalling attack on officers' integrity. The poster mimics the current police recruitment campaign poster, based on the theme of getting better work stories.  It invites people to join the police to hear great rape stories. In some places around the city the official police posters have been ripped down and replaced, and in others the mock poster has been pasted over the official ones. The poster directs people to a non-existent website and also to an 0800 phone number, which goes through to an apparently unrelated Rotorua holiday park. King says it is an appalling slur on thousands of good and honest Kiwis who police New Zealand with integrity and respect every day. She says she is disturbed by the ugly and vicious poster that appeared at Wellington's railway station on Tuesday morning.  She says the people who designed the poster ignore the fact that the people who brought the prosecutions against the police who were charged recently, were in fact police officers. A Wellington activist, Grace Millar of Women Against Rape, didn't organise the poster campaign but supports those who did. "I think that it's no surprise that someone has used that and put up posters which say that because I think a lot of people are feeling very angry," Millar says. She is organising a march to coincide with International Women's Day on Thursday. "Attitudes across the police service in terms of attitudes towards women and attitudes towards rape survivors need to change," she says. Police National Headquarters says the campaign is more offensive to victims than it is to police. Superintendent Grant O'Fee says they have been heartened by the support they have received by members of the public. He says police are appealing to the wider New Zealand public to support their officers during these difficult days. National Party police spokesman Chester Borrows says it is hugely unfair to taint 7,500 police officers with the actions of three or four. He points out an independent and objective report into the integrity of police is due out soon. On Monday the prime minister warned the report makes extremely bad reading. The inquiry was set up three years ago when Louise Nicholas publicly accused Assistant Police Commissioner Clint Rickards and two former police officers of historic sex crimes. They were acquitted on grounds the sex was consensual. Helen Clark says the police will have hard questions to answer when the report is released in a few weeks. However a constitutional law expert believes Clark is undermining the jury system by making comments about Rickards. Auckland University law professor Bill Hodge says he has been cleared by two juries and it is not her place to make judgements. Hodge says we have got a jury system for a good reason and having the prime minister attack it does not help its integrity. Rickards says he wants to resume his role as Auckland District Police Commander, but a former police officer and MP believes he will have a tough time regaining his job. Ian Revell was in the force during the 1980s and says police are more scrutinised than other sectors. He says he was unaware of a police culture of sexual excess when he was working. Revell says excess use of alcohol and promiscuous behaviour amongst single people was common, but group sex involving police officers certainly was not. He says he feels sorry for Rickards, as even though he has been acquitted on all charges his high profile means he is unlikely to get his job back.