KEY POINTS:
As a rule I'm opposed to vigilantism. I've been up close with too many people whose monologues on what they'd like to do to society's miscreants have been delivered to the strains of the song Duelling Banjos in the background.
"Somebody steals your TV? Put 'em in stocks and then shoot the bugger," they cry, foam flecking their telephone receivers as they vent their spleens via talkback.
People's ideas of what is right and proper punishment differs, and that's why we have a justice system. We agree to cede our individual rights and let the community administer justice on our behalf.
But when the system breaks down, and the policing arm of the state is unable to keep its end of the bargain, then surely individuals have the right to take over.
Take the case of Garth Gadsby. The 60-year-old fisherman and his wife operate a fishing charter business in the remote Wairarapa community of Ngawi.
Last week Gadsby was fined $3000 and ordered to surrender his gun after being convicted of recklessly discharging his firearm when he tried to stop a trio of experienced burglars from ransacking homes in the town.
The burglars may have been young - two were 19, one was 15 - but they'd racked up an impressive list of priors when they decided to head for Ngawi. The town had been done over three times by thieves, and residents were furious.
A group of Ngawi men decided they'd go after the robbers the next time they struck and deliver the oiks to the cops.
Ngawi is 50 minutes to an hour-and-a-half from any police station so ringing the cops wasn't an option. And besides, the police had been unable to find the perpetrators of the previous robberies.
At 3.30am the cry went up. The gobshites were in town. In a stolen car, the youths were breaking into holiday homes and taking what they could grab. The residents were forced to take matters into their own hands.
Gadsby and his mates set off and in the course of the car chase, they rammed the thieves' car and Gadsby fired a few shots.
He's a competitive skeet shooter and he knows his way around a rifle. This was not some testosterone-engorged redneck whose gun bore was bigger than his intelligence.
This was a man trying to stop a carload of thieves from getting away and, in the absence of road spikes - which the police could have provided had there been any within cooee - Gadsby tried to shoot out the tyres of the stolen car.
The young robbers evaded their pursuers but the Ngawi residents weren't about to give up. There's one road in and out of Ngawi and the robbers were somewhere in the town.
The thieves took cover in a bach but were forced to head for the hills when members of the community flushed them out, and that's where police found them at dawn - cowering in the hills and, no doubt, bitterly regretting their night of stealing.
Three little criminals were served on a platter to the cops - and then what happened? Far from being presented with a Police 5 badge, Gadsby was charged.
He was to be "Made An Example Of". He was to be the sacrificial lamb used to send the message that people taking law enforcement into their own hands would not be tolerated.
The community was outraged and raised more than $12,000 to contribute towards Gadsby's legal bills but to no avail. Despite his years of community work, despite his exemplary record, he was convicted and fined.
No discharge without conviction. Oh, no. That's only for international sportsmen, not decent, contributing members of the community.
What on Earth were the residents of Ngawi to do? In the absence of a police presence, were they to stand by and allow their town to be pillaged and ransacked? I think not.
Garth Gadsby did the right thing, and his community knows that.
I have no fear of someone like Gadsby roaming the streets - I'm more concerned about the thieves.
If the police can't protect citizens, then what are they to do?
Should we have volunteer cops, just as we have volunteer firemen? Should citizens be able to police their own communities?
Or should we just turn a blind eye to criminals and pull the covers over our heads while they steal anything that's not nailed down?
I'd love to know what the justice system recommends.
