“The ability of the Police to perform their duties is dependent upon public approval of police actions.”
Policing by Consent is in meltdown. The Peelian Principle #2 detailed above from Sir Robert Peel is a core factor in how we used to police New Zealand. If you don’t believe consent of those policed is vital you are probably already firmly ensconced in Bullshit Castle. For those of us who realise we have lost too much public support and need to work on solutions to regain it, this plea for support is written for you.
Our bosses have actively worked to place us in this position and it is up to us to lobby to change our approach. This will enable not only more support but a subsequent rise in effective policing. It will also make policing safer, both from an officer’s point of view and the community’s. We need to work on being a part of the community again.
Us and them is ineffective and unsafe. Policing should be simple, the things you see as a problem the public see too, but we have moved well away from those core Peelian Principles and we really need to find a way back. Police are used to dealing with criminals, we are ill-equipped to do otherwise.
The approach taken by our Union Management and PNHQ (but I repeat myself) of trying to turn the whole of NZ into criminals has had unintended consequences. We are a response force, we are usually attending where there is already a victim. We know what we would want done and how we would respond if it was us our friends or family. Below are some of my suggestions for a way back. Yes, it will cost some money, but they will also free up a vast amount of resources for general policing.
Traffic Education Division. Re-establish the Traffic Dept. Yes, yes, I know they were hated; however, it is an area where the focus can easily be changed. Our current approach to road safety is ACC-driven KPI’s that ensure the harassment of thousands of road users who have made no driving errors whatsoever. The focus needs to be on education, not revenue gathering or randomly stopping people just using the roads.
Many of the public are well aware that the numbers stopped for drink driving show that we don’t have a problem at all. They can do the maths and know it is always less than 1%. Some even realise that advancement to prosecution is 50% of that 1%!
Every single checkpoint undermines the relationship with the road user. All of the poor driving we see, the public also see, and they wonder why there is nothing done about it. We know that we have enough to do as general duties without actually pulling over bad drivers. So a separate Traffic Dept focused on education is needed.
Make the vast majority of the patrol vehicles mufti: sedans, people movers, motorcycles, courier vans, taxis & trucks. Equip them and the officers all with dashcams and body cams. Start documenting and pulling over bad drivers. A chat at the side of the road that takes 15 mins minimum is a lot more inconvenient than a fine to most people. However, the key is not to make it about a fine. In the vast majority of cases a lecture should suffice, assuming the “Attitude Test” is not a fail.
All these stops would, however, be documented and passed on; should a driver reach a certain number, then a longer chat and a driving course may prove in order. I’m sure we can make Traffic School cool again! All of the funds spent on nagging, ineffective TV adverts can be contributed to free driving courses and the Ad Men Welfare can end. We still have many officers who are genuinely interested in road safety and who would love to take a creative approach to improve it.
End the War on Drugs. History makes it clear that Prohibition simply will not work. It has killed NZ officers and enables a whole bunch of scumbags who shouldn’t have a dollar to their name to have influence and a lifestyle to envy. Get us out of it. It is a health issue unless harm is being done to others. An assault is an assault regardless of the substance used as an excuse.
Get us out of the gun control Business. Our bosses have been spending too much time with big city US cops. Over decades they have managed to get offside with the organised group that was most supportive of our police community! We don’t have the resources to be involved in policing demonstrably law abiding citizens. More importantly, we have zero reasons to be involved with them. The Arms Act is used only to inconvenience & harass.
We need to lobby for the repeal of the Arms Act. There is no actual crime that we wish to address that would not be covered by the Crimes Act. The funds currently being used would be far better spent on our own firearms training, which has certainly vastly improved. There are facilities and people here that can assist us in expending the ammo & time to better equip us to be armed. Our bosses have annoyed them for sure but they are still there.
So these are my starting ideas for a change. It is not an easy road, but we took this job on to ‘Be the Difference’, not to be the problem.
- PRINCIPLE 1 “The basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder.”
- PRINCIPLE 2 “The ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon public approval of police actions.”
- PRINCIPLE 3 “Police must secure the willing cooperation of the public in voluntary observance of the law to be able to secure and maintain the respect of the public.”
- PRINCIPLE 4 “The degree of cooperation of the public that can be secured diminishes proportionately to the necessity of the use of physical force.”
- PRINCIPLE 5 “Police seek and preserve public favour not by catering to the public opinion but by constantly demonstrating absolute impartial service to the law.”
- PRINCIPLE 6 “Police use physical force to the extent necessary to secure observance of the law or to restore order only when the exercise of persuasion, advice and warning is found to be insufficient.”
- PRINCIPLE 7 “Police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.”
- PRINCIPLE 8 “Police should always direct their action strictly towards their functions and never appear to usurp the powers of the judiciary.”
- PRINCIPLE 9 “The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with it.”