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Allegations of Abuse by
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Home / police allegations / Rickards,
Shipton, Schollum vs Jane Doe Page 7 - Further Reaction to Not
Guilty Verdict |
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The commanders of police districts
around the country met in National police spokesman Jon
Neilson said the meeting had been scheduled to discuss the Police Act review
and had nothing to do with the rape trial against the suspended assistant
commissioner and two former officers, or the image of the force in the
aftermath of the trial. But, before the meeting,
Superintendent Grant O'Fee, Tasman district commander, admitted officers were
going through difficult days. A women's "march against
police rape" is planned in Auckland tomorrow while in Wellington bogus
recruiting posters have been put up saying a career in the New Zealand police
is a way to "hear great rape stories". Mr O'Fee said the vast majority of
police officers were working under tremendous pressure and the present
climate "does nothing to make this any easier". "Regardless of what views
some people may have about recent events, the continual parodying will take
its toll on our frontline staff who, every day and night, are serving the
community," he said. In some places around the capital,
official police posters have been ripped down and replaced, and in others,
the mock poster has been pasted over the official ones. Police Minister Annette King said
the poster was "unfair, ugly and vicious". "I'm asking the people who
put up this poster to think about the huge majority of decent police staff
whom they are damaging and hurting by their ill-considered actions." The posters are an apparent
backlash against last week's court case which saw Mr Rickards, Shipton and
Schollum acquitted by a jury on charges of kidnapping and indecently
assaulting a 16-year-old girl more than 20 years ago. Last year, the same three men were
acquitted of historic sex charges against Rotorua woman Louise Nicholas.
Shipton and Schollum are already in prison for a different rape - of a Mt
Maunganui woman 18 years ago. There has been a public outcry since that
information was made public after court suppression orders were lifted. Mr Rickards, meanwhile, is
understood to be fighting to get his job back. Ms King said many people had been
greatly and genuinely upset by revelations surrounding the trial, "but
the people who designed this poster completely ignore one obvious fact - that
is, that the people who brought prosecutions against the men accused of the
offences were the police". |
