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This page last updated June 1 2007
March 6 2007; Poster
campaign against the police
A scathing poster campaign is underway in Wellington attacking the credibility of the
thin blue line following the recent police indecent assault trial. 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
Annette
King
Minister
of Police Annette King says it is an appalling slur on thousands of
good and honest Kiwis who police New Zealand with integrity and
respect. She says the poster is "ugly and vicious"
National Party police spokesman
Chester Borrows adds it is hugely unfair to taint 7,500 police officers
with the actions of three or four.
A Wellington activist, Grace
Millar of Women Against Rape, didn't organise the poster campaign but
supports those who did.
Police Superintendent Grant O'Fee says the posters are
offensive to those victims of rape and sexual abuse and to members of Police
Lenka Rochford
Lenka Rochford, a spokeswoman for a
group of Wellington
women who last year broke court suppression orders said "We think the
posters are brilliant and applaud the people behind them,"
2007-0306 - NZ Herald - Posters
offend officers and rape victims, say police
2007-0306 - NZ Herald - Anti-police
poster under attack
2007-0306 - Newstalk ZB -
Police rape poster campaign hits Capital
2007-0306 - Newstalk ZB - Anti-police
poster slammed
2007-0306 - One News - Posters
attack police credibility
2007-0306 - One News -
Police minister slams mock posters
2007-0306 - NZ Police -
Posters offensive
2007-0306 - Newswire -
Minister Appalled At Bogus Recruiting Post
2007-0306 - Radio NZ - King
appalled
2007-0306 - Radio NZ - Police
minister appalled at bogus recruiting poster
2007-0306 - Stuff - King attacks
'great rape stories' poster
2007-0306 - Stuff - Police appeal
for public support
March 5-6 2007; Police
claim their reputation suffering because of sex trial
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
An ex police officer, Lance
Corcoran defends the police investigation, following criticism by Clint
Rickards. He says "today, the police are much better equipped to deal
with such matters appropriately"
2007-0305 - Newstalk ZB -
Police tainted by sex trial
2007-0306 - Timaru Herald -
Rickards case
March 5 2007; Reshuffle
Auckland police top jobs; Not related to Rickards case
There
has been a change of guard in the top ranks of Auckland's police force, but
Police say it has nothing to do with suspended commander Clint Rickards.
2007-0305 - Three News - Reshuffle
of Auckland's top Police
March 5 2007; Police
Complaints Authority to review Investigation
The
Police Complaints Authority is to review how an investigation into claims of
sexual abuse by police officers in the 1980s, was run. Mr Rickards has
described the police investigation known as Operation Austin, into complaints
from several women, as a shambles, and insists he should be reinstated. He
has claimed that witnesses were coached and that police overlooked
inconsistencies in complainants' evidence.
2007-0305 - Newswire - PCA To Review
Investigation Into 1980s Sex Claims
2007-0305 - Radio NZ - No comment -
Police HQ
2007-0305 - Radio NZ - Review by PCA
March 5-6 2007; March to
protest acquittal being organised
Marches being organised in Auckland and Wellington
to protest the recent acquittal of Bob Schollum, Brad Shipton, and assistant
police commissioner, Clint Rickards. "We will be voicing our absolute
disgust at a system that suppresses valid information and supports rape
culture," says event organisers.
Spokeswoman Jasmine Gray said the group did not
accept the verdict of a jury last Thursday. "I don't think it's
necessarily the facts that are being disputed. It's interpretations,"
she said.
2007-0305 - Scoop - Auckland to
Protest Police Rape Acquittal
2007-0305 - Stuff - Protest march
planned over acquittals
2007-0306 - NZ Herald - March to
demand sex case changes
March 5-6 2007; Suppression
of evidence
The Waikato Times
editorial says the outcome of the trial would quite
probably have been any different had the suppressed evidence been known.
"Which just proves how vital it was the 12 jury members in both trials
were kept in the dark".
Suppression orders and a block on criminal backgrounds are there for a
reason: to help juries decide cases on fact. That's something to remember for
those misguided enough to try and reveal the Shipton/Schollum convictions
after the Nicholas trial.
The
Nelson Mail editorial also says the law as it stands is appropriate.
it is a long-established principle of our justice system that each case should
be judged solely on the facts pertaining to it. While this is not always
possible, juries must attempt to ignore prior knowledge and prejudices and
deal with the facts alone. Jury members inevitably would be influenced by
knowledge of past convictions
The
Prime Minister Helen Clark made clear her distaste for the history of
group sex among the accused, and said the question of what juries were told
about a defendant could be something for an organisation like the Law
Commission to look at. It has been so controversial one feels almost bound
to take the matter further, she said today
The Law Commission says
it would be happy to take up the matter, if requested by the Government.
However, Commission president Sir Geoffrey Palmer says making such a significant
change around the processes that juries follow, needs careful consideration.
2007-0305 - Waikato Times -
Rickards not fit to lead
2007-0305 - Nelson Mail - No way back
2007-0305 - Newswire - Trial
Secrecy Rule Bound For Review
2007-0306 - The Press - PM weighs in
against Rickards
2007-0306 - Radio NZ -
Information disclosed to juries needs review - PM
2007-0306 - Radio NZ - PM says issue
of what juries can be told warrants further attention
2007-0306 - NZ Herald -
Review of convictions secrecy
2007-0306 - Nelson Mail -
Schollum, Shipton and Rickards
2007-0306 - Newswire - Law
Commission Happy To Examine Jury Information Issue
March 6 2007; Law expert
claims Prime Minister is undermining the jury system
Helen
Clark is steering clear of offering an opinion on whether Mr Rickards
should return to his job. She is aware that if she entered the fray she could
be accused of political interference - something Mr Rickards could use in his
favour in any employment dispute. But while she has not said he should go,
her open questioning of his consent defence - which a jury believed - is
likely to be seen as an unsubtle hint of her views.
A constitutional law expert believes Helen 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
Mr Rickards' lawyer, John Haigh,
QC,
said yesterday that he had "strong views" about the Prime
Minister's comments. However, he did not want to enter the fray at this point
"because the matter is in a sense sub judice between Mr Rickards'
counsel and the police"
2007-0306 - One News - Posters
attack police credibility
2007-0306 - NZ Herald -
Rickards: It's a matter of pride
March 5-6 2007; Support for
Clint Rickards
Willie
Jackson
Former Alliance MP Willie Jackson says Mr Rickards has
become the sacrificial lamb in the inquiry into police culture. He says Mr
Rickards is the victim of a witch-hunt and should be allowed to return to his
job.
Mr Rickards's lawyer, John Haigh, says neither he nor
his client will comment.
Council for Civil Liberties
president Barry Wilson said that unlike his two co-accused, Mr Rickards had no
previous convictions and the public should recognise that a jury heard all
the evidence and acquitted him. "The jury is there to represent the
community. They are well placed to do so," Mr Wilson said. "If you
want to override their verdict by a kind of collective moral panic, then it's
the community that suffers."
A former police officer and MP
feels sorry for Mr Rickards. Ian Revell says even although Mr
Rickards has been acquitted, his high profile means he is unlikely to get his
job back
2007-0305 - Radio NZ - Rickards
victim of witch-hunt - former MP
2007-0306 - NZ Herald - March to
demand sex case changes
2007-0306 - Newstalk ZB -
Rickards believes his career destroyed
March 5-6 2007; Political
pressure mounting to sack Clint Rickards
 The
Prime Minister Helen Clark says she will not
"comment directly" on Clint Rickards' case, but immediately does so
"It's
absolutely clear that there's no way that anybody could condone the sort of
behaviour those officers were engaged in." When asked about Mr Rickards'
four promotions after police bosses became aware of some of the claims
against him, Miss Clark said: "The mind boggles." Helen Clark says it is clear Mr Rickards
and other police officers abused their power in several situations
"And I do say that while there may be a legal meaning to the term
consent, I have to question whether there can be any genuine consent where
you have police officers in a position of responsibility in a community
engaging in group sex with a teenage girl,'' she said after the weekly
Cabinet meeting. "The thing which has most disturbed me about it is the
abuse of power, and I just cannot see how one can use the term consensual
when you have police officers in a regional town and we are talking about
teenage girls.''
The
Leader of the National Party, John Key said Rickards had also lost
the confidence of the Opposition. United Future leader Peter Dunne
says Clint Rickards' behaviour has been disgraceful and resignation is the
only honourable course of action. The Greens' police spokesman Nandor
Tanczos also doubts New Zealanders will have the necessary respect
for him
Dick
Hubbard
Auckland
City Mayor Dick Hubbard does not want Clint Rickards back as district
police commander for Auckland
City. He says Mr
Rickards' standard of behaviour is unacceptable and damages public confidence
in the police. "I don't see how
any policeman could say, 'Two of my best friends are in jail for rape, and by
the way I want to be head policeman in Auckland so I can protect the women
folk of Auckland'," "Mr
Rickards absolutely shouldn't return to his desk" Hubbard believes police in Auckland would
lose the respect of the public if that happened
Former
police minister John Banks also called for Rickards' sacking
Women's
Refuge Heather Henare says the public has lost confidence in Rickards
after his comments outside court that he was still friends with the convicted
rapists Shipton and Schollum and that the police investigation was a
shambles.
Rape-survivor/counsellor Brenda
Cheyne of the HELP Foundation says it is difficult for women to have their
experiences acknowledged and validated, and having Rickards back in his job
would deter women from coming forward with complaints
Waikato Times editorial acknowledges there
wasn't enough to convict and both juries appear to have made the right decision.
What he did in his past was not illegal. But as Rickards now knows, it does
not make it acceptable. Should someone with a background even they are
ashamed of lead our police force? No.
The Nelson Mail also says Rickards needs to seek a new career.
Six letters to the Press, Manawatu
Standard all argue against the reinstatement of Rickards, or criticise the
verdict
2007-0305 - NZ Herald -
Disgraced Rickards is not fit to protect Auckland's women, says Hubbard
2007-0305 - NZ Herald - Clark hints
at police conduct inquiry fall-out
2007-0305 - One News -
Pressure on Rickards intensifies
2007-0305 - Radio NZ -
Auckland City Mayor doesn't want Rickards back as top cop
2007-0305 - Radio NZ - Clark
condemns Rickards' past behaviour
2007-0305 - Radio NZ - Clint
Rickards is not suitable to return
2007-0305 - Radio NZ -
Nationwide outrage predicted
2007-0305 - Newstalk ZB -
Hubbard not pulling punches over Rickards
2007-0305 - Newstalk ZB - PM
hints police inquiry will be alarming
2007-0305 - Newstalk ZB -
Backing for call to keep Rickards out
2007-0305 - Three News -
Release of Police conduct inquiry could create a stir
2007-0305 - Three News -
Rickards fighting for his job
2007-0305 - Three News -
Recent cases show abuse of police power - Clark
2007-0305 - Stuff - We don't want
Rickards back - Hubbard
2007-0305 - Waikato Times -
Rickards not fit to lead
2007-0305 - Nelson Mail - No way back
2007-0306 - NZ Herald - Clark
steps up pressure on Rickards
2007-0306 - Dominion Post -
Pressure builds against Rickards
2007-0306 - Timaru Herald - Sack
top cop call
2007-0306 - The Press - PM weighs in
against Rickards
2007-0306 - ThePress - Letters to the
Editor
2007-0306 - Manawatu
Standard - Rickards comments
2007-0306 - Newstalk ZB -
Political leaders speak out against Rickards
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Peterellis.org.nz applauds Clint Rickards' willingness to speak out about a
possible miscarriage of justice:
Regardless of all other issues associated with the
case of Clint Rickards, peterellis.org applauds the willingness of Clint
Rickards to publicly support any prisoner who he personally believes is a
victim of a miscarriage of justice, regardless of the obvious consequences
to himself. Clint Rickards is doing nothing more than every citizen of New Zealand
should be willing to do.
Clint Rickards is not saying that 'Two of my best friends are in jail for rape' as
Mayor Hubbard suggests. Clint Rickards is saying that two of his best
friends are in jail as a consequence of a false allegation of rape.
The difference is significant.
The view of Dick Hubbard and Womens Refuge that public figures should not
care about possible miscarriages of justice should be condemned.
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