President's Column
Each month, Police Association President Greg O'Connor writes a column on a topical issue in policing. This column is published both in Police News, and on this website.
President's Column - Austerity looms over hard-won gains
The election is done and dusted, National has a majority with Act NZ and Peter Dunne, and by the time you read this, we may have a new minister. In an ironic piece of retro, it could be John Banks again!
President's Column - Treating each other as equals
While there will always be socioeconomic strata in our society, we have generally avoided re-establishing the class systems inherent in the Northern Hemisphere countries that European settlers escaped.
President's Column - Urgent law change needed for Police video surveillance
As I write this column, we are hurriedly preparing our submissions on the Government’s urgent bill to legitimise and reinstate the evidence we gather using video surveillance.
President's Column - Mob Rule
“The UK is a very crowded and compact place, so gathering large numbers of officers is far more feasible than in places like New Zealand. Even so, the Government there was very fortunate the planned 20% cuts to officer numbers had not yet been implemented, or they may have been caught very short.”
President's Column - The value of experience
“There is no better learning than to have to justify actions later in Court, and the sometimes-excruciating examinations help us think beyond the immediate next time.”
President's Column - The drive for "efficiencies"
“Anyone who thinks there is any fat left in our system just needs to visit a few overseas jurisdictions to see what value for money the New Zealand taxpayer gets from its police.”
President's Column - An eye on Politics
“The financial situation means things will change for us all. Don’t naively think your workplace or station or district will somehow slip under the radar; no one else’s will.”
President's Column - Police culture
“Anyone who believes public safety will somehow be enhanced by elimination of ‘the Police culture’ shows an inherent misunderstanding of what makes us a very effective and efficient Police service. Lessons learned in the school of hard knocks will generally be more effective than those delivered from the pulpit or the idealist’s forum.”
President's Column - What's good for the goose
“What we can demand as police is fairness and consistency. Strict accountability of police is appropriate, so let’s have the same level of consistency around public servants, judges and parliamentarians.”
President's Column - Reporting on Police
“We have not independently verified the accuracy of information provided to us, and have not conducted any form of audit in respect of the New Zealand Police. Accordingly, we express no opinion of the reliability, accuracy or completeness of the information provided to us and upon which we have relied.”
– Above is the disclaimer in the State Services Commission’s report into Change Management Programme Process (a third phase review of the Commission of Inquiry into Police conduct).
President's Column - Assaults on Police
“We have specialist groups at Police headquarters co-ordinating responses to every problem emanating from society. It is time we implemented a high level response to the problem of serious attacks on police - other than hospital visits.”
President's Column - Loose lips sink ships
“It doesn’t matter whether we are talking about prominent people or even criminals, information we receive as part of our job, especially that obtained using our coercive powers, should be kept to ourselves until someone, usually the court, decides otherwise.”
President's Column - Police as 'tall poppies'
“Police Association Conference delegates, a very good cross section of New Zealand police ranging from non-sworn support staff through to commissioned officers, following lengthy debate, came to the conclusion that we cannot wait until the next shooting of unarmed police officers before we begin carrying firearms.”
President's Column - Christchurch quake response provides valuable lessons for another issue
“The strategy has got to be to make sure offenders know it’s not worth it to have a go, not to make police tentative in enforcing the law and in doing so, making the roads more dangerous.”
President's Column - Theft of the frontline
“The real problem is that none of it results in better service to the public, because any advantages are quickly negated by the theft of policing time.”
President's Column - Arming issue up for debate
“Our Australian colleagues are shaking their heads in disbelief that there is even a discussion on arming over here.”
President's Column - The ability to respond quickly is imperative
"We should use the best ideas from wherever they are developed, but it's extremely important to understand the context."
President's Column - Getting Mr Big
"Notwithstanding that some aspects of the pursuit did breach policy, the criticism of the officers for ‘beginning’ the pursuit of a speeding driver, in the first place, is the sort of thing that leaves frontliners shaking their heads."
President's Column - More Assaults on Police
“I predict now that officers and members of the public will die because police officers will be unable to respond to an armed offender due to the unavailability of a firearm.”
President's Column - The insidious creep of corruption
“Favours accepted, coupled with inappropriate associations, a belief you are worth more than you are getting and that no one seems to care about a particular problem, and you have the ingredients for corruption.”
President's Column - Assaults on Police
It is obvious that the authorities’ and media’s reaction to the deaths following failure to stop incidents contributes significantly to the increased tendency for criminals to ‘have a go’ at police when confronted.
President's Column - It's all about balance
“While there are some disadvantages to having all sworn police enter the organisation at the same level, it does ensure that despite the size of the organisation, there exists a consistency of understanding of what ‘business as usual’ means.”
President's Column - Christmas reflections
“That’s often, though not always, a good time to reflect that it’s a privilege to have a good stable home life and that whatever else is happening in our world, the focus should be on working to keep that intact.”
President's Column - Drugs and organised crime major issues for future
“We are confident now in our members’ ability to predict emerging problems within Police. The results of last year’s members’ survey clearly showed that drugs and organised crime are major issues for the future.”
President's Column - Police budget cuts
“The looming cuts to the budget are causing consternation to police at every level. They areworried that the level of response, mostly to victims and complainants, will be reduced.”
President's Column - Firearms training cuts
"In this month’s Police News, there are some interesting stories of overseas police shootings similar to what we have experienced in New Zealand in the last year."President's Column - The arming issue
“The Norwegians reached their compromise of having every patrol car equipped with firearms in safes beside the driver after considerable debate. This was after just one officer was killed when police were outgunned during a robbery.”President's Column - Being in Police means learning to ride emotional roller coasters
“We will still gather evidence and arrest criminals. We will still do our best to deliver justice to those who seek redress from their assailants, their thieves, and their bullies.”
