Training wheels
It was a wheely embarrassing moment when a police car got stuck in the gravel of the downhill runaway vehicle ramp on the recently opened Transmission Gully motorway. The best police could offer was they had proved that the so-called “arrester bed” worked.
I hope there is not a competition for the silliest moment on this highway given the follow-up by another copper who backed over a bollard and was stuck with his patrol car’s rear end in the air.
In saying that, bollards can be tricky things. Amid all the great work at Parliament, one unfortunate colleague tailgated into the secure parking and ended up with a bollard embedded under his car.
Some days you just have to laugh because nothing is going right.
Brought in for questioning
I see the feds are under a bit of scrutiny for some innovative investigation techniques during homicide investigations, one being called the Mr Big scenario, the other a new interview method called PEACE Plus that’s styled around a fireside chat.
It reminds me of the value of the KISS principle. Police do need to be careful, because the scrutiny we are under has never been greater, and credibility is hard to gain and easily lost.
On the House
Talking of Parliament, I understand the Speaker, Trevor Mallard, provided free coffees for Police staff during most of the protest deployment, though I’m not sure that a free coffee would compensate for having to listen to Barry Manilow. I suspect, however, that the Speaker may have learnt a lesson about offering coppers anything free.
We will remember this
I had a mate from Auckland contact me rather peeved that he had polished his number ones and shined his medals with the intention of marching in the Dawn Parade on Anzac Day, only to get a directive from Police that, in the interests of Covid-19 prevention, it wouldn’t allow this and he should stand separate, at a safe distance. This was followed by the news that his attendance would be in his own time and not while on duty.
That being the case, perhaps management should butt out and let adults make their own decisions.
Is it just me, or does it feel like management is increasingly of the view it can have a say in our private lives?
This column is written by a frontline police member. It does not represent the views or policies of the Police Association.
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