Posts by Russell Brown
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Hard News: Angry and thrilled about Arie, in reply to Sacha,
Restorative justice was not a soft option when they rejected it.
It would have been the decent thing to do.
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Hard News: Angry and thrilled about Arie, in reply to HORansome,
couldn’t quite see why you would think the police would be more affected by the quake than the rest of the populace, but you meant the bruising caused by the reporting of the incident and the actions of the police after the event.
No, I meant that a disaster situation, police officers often to have to see and do things members of the public do not, and are likely to be away from their own homes and families for long periods . They were entitled to make an arrest in the circumstances and I can understand that the arrest of apparent looters at that particular time in Christchurch would make for a highly-charged situation. But understanding how “rough justice” might occur does not mean saying it’s acceptable, at all.
Which should have been the view of Erasmus and other senior officers. They weren’t working in the heat of the moment, and they are supposed to exercise ethical leadership. They utterly failed in that, and instead they authorised a series of simply cruel decisions, from the “perp walk” to the extraordinary non-association order (granted by Judge Jane Farish at, presumably, the request of the police), to the repeated refusal to approve diversion.
There was a point before those decisions where it could have been resolved in a way which didn’t place Arie under additional stress, and which acknowledged that he was done wrong. When Simon Buckingham began acting for Arie, he explained that there was unlikely to be an assault complaint against the police:
"I’m convinced it happened, there’s no question, but the stress levels [involved with making a complaint] … He wouldn’t be able to cope.”
More importantly, Mr Smith-Voorkamp did not want to detract from the excellent job police were doing in Christchurch.
“The one thing he doesn’t want is for police to be bagged at a time they need the New Zealand public behind them."
The assault complaint only came into the picture when it became clear that the cops were going to play hardball. It’s a damn shame the Christchurch police command could never find the good faith this young man was able to summon.
But yes, I wholly agree with you and Gio, the the point at which this could be done the good-faith way is long past. Although I do not say so with any great hope, I think an inquiry into this case and others is warranted.
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Hard News: Angry and thrilled about Arie, in reply to Hilary Stace,
I think we are all really on the same page here and we are all a bit sensitive about this topic, not just because there are two real people facing great injustice in NZ now, but how close this situation is potentially to some of our own family situations.
Indeed. The Arie Facebook group has been very difficult at times for its moderators for similar reasons..
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Hard News: Angry and thrilled about Arie, in reply to giovanni tiso,
It’s really not my week for making myself understood on PAS. I withdraw and apologise.
Generous of you, but not really necessary. It's a new day today. For my part, clearly the word "forgivable" was problematic for you and Matthew, but I hope I was able to explain the context in which I used it.
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Hard News: Angry and thrilled about Arie, in reply to Hilary Stace,
I suspect that the Sunday people didn’t ask about Michael’s plight or the non- association order, and Michael only revealed his own story on the Facebook page later. He seems a very self-effacing person with his main interest in supporting Arie.
That was my understanding -- he deliberately didn't talk about his problems because he wanted the focus to be on Arie.
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Hard News: Angry and thrilled about Arie, in reply to giovanni tiso,
Items one to ten of their job description are about not abusing that authority, however. And you’re not saying that it would have been okay for them to rough up actual honest-to-god looters, I presume, yes?
I am not saying anything that happened to anyone outside best police practice was "okay" and, to be honest, I'm really struggling to keep a civil tongue with your for implying that.
What I am saying is that I hold police commanders, who had the ability to consider events in daylight, more culpable than the arresting officers. It was their job to hold their subordinates to account, to take steps to ensure it never happened again, and to effect a resolution. Which would, I think, have taken the form of a restorative justice action rather than a prosecution Arie repeatedly made it clear he did not want.
Christchurch police command, in the light of day, instead consciously decided on a strategy of cruel bullying and cover-up. That is unforgiveable.
There are broader issues than your feelings, or even Arie’s, to consider in a determination of what would have been “forgiveable”.
C'mon. Don't patronise me.
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Hard News: Angry and thrilled about Arie, in reply to giovanni tiso,
Hardly. It wasn’t the police that had been psychologically bruised, it was the city. If this created an environment in which police brutality might be more then usually excused or even welcomed by the public opinion, it still wouldn’t make their actions forgiveable. But you’re right that they’ve managed to make matters even worse. And it really has to stop.
I used the word “forgive” rather than “excuse” advisedly.
It’s reasonable to suppose that working police officers may have been particularly traumatised by the February earthquake and its aftermath, in a way that other residents might not have. They’ll also have been feeling the same emotions about “looters” as most of the city, and been in a position to act on them.
And yet there also also no doubt that they failed in both their duty of care and their professional standards. A restorative justice process that acknowledged that in a timely fashion would have been adequate for me. And, I think I am correct in saying, for Arie.
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Hard News: Angry and thrilled about Arie, in reply to Kumara Republic,
Do people really think he’s a would-be Martin Bryant in spite of evidence to the contrary?
No, they don't think that. No one thinks that.
The Christchurch police are ineptly covering for original actions that are, in the context of the psychological bruising they had been subject to, forgivable. But only if they acknowledged wrong and apologised.
Instead, they have compounded the original offence. The non-association order we've now learned about is just unfathomably cruel. At some point, this has to stop. And, as I said way back in the original post, it is incumbent on the Minister to stop it if the police will not.
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Field Theory: How's that working out for…, in reply to BenWilson,
Classic. I’ve never, ever felt less tired from weight training. Quite the opposite, I’ve never encountered any physical exercise that sapped the life out of me quite so much.
How about cycling? So long as I've ridden long enough to get through the sore legs phase, I'm often full of beans after a ride -- I sometimes have to calm myself down a bit, especially if the conclusion of the ride is adjacent to drinks time ...
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Hard News: I have a feast for you, in reply to BenWilson,
Have started my DJing app btw. All that Java I did with Leo is paying off now. Will probably pester you for some input soon.
DJ russb is on the cut.