KEY POINTS:
What a cruel and unnecessary headline on the front page of Tuesday's New Zealand Herald. "Police not human, says slain man's mate", it read, alongside a photo of Navtej Singh and his wife.
The story went on to recount Navtej Singh's friends' complaints about the length of time it took for the police and ambulance services to come to the aid of the dying man.
You can understand the horror. Navtej Singh and his business partner have just been confronted by three armed men, who shoot and mortally wound Singh in the chest.
Gurwinder Singh, Navtej's business partner, calls 111, and also puts in calls to Navtej's wife and friends. The assembled group can hear the sirens of the rescue appliances but for 26 long minutes nobody comes.
Navtej Singh calls out in pain, asking someone to help him, and his friends and family are repeatedly assured that help is on its way.
Navtej Singh died the next day in hospital as the result of his injuries, and in the wake of his death, his family and friends are accusing the police of delaying the help that could have saved his life. You can understand that they want someone - anyone - to blame for the death of the young husband and father.
They're being assailed by the media who all want to know how they feel. How do they feel about the murder. How do they feel about the time it took police to get there. And by crikey, the Herald got its quote and its headline.
According to Sandeep Verma, a friend of the Singhs, everyone was calling the police and ambulances from the carpark.
According to Sandeep Verma, that meant there were no more killers around. Because the police insisted on making sure the area was safe before they would let St John Ambulance crew through, Sandeep Verma said the police were not human beings.
Gotcha! Perfect headline to lead with the next morning. Police not human, says dead man's mate. But to label the police as inhuman?
Dear God. How about the youths who shot Navtej Singh in the chest, scooped up boxes of liquor and left laughing as their victim lay bleeding on the floor? How about the man who came in and took advantage of the armed robbery to steal a box of RTDs?
How about the teenage boy who said he knew who the killers were but didn't want to say because he wasn't a snitch? Any of these low-life scum would warrant the term "inhuman" before the attending officers.
But no. The coppers get it, yet again. As they hunted the murderers of Navtej Singh, they had to see that headline because even if they didn't read the paper, that was the headline on advertising boards outside dairies.
There will be an investigation into the length of time it took for the Police to declare the crime scene safe. And more precious police hours will be wasted investigating procedure rather than getting on with the real job of making the streets safe.
And for what? For wanting to ensure that more people weren't killed? Imagine the outcry if they'd charged in, just like we see the cops do on American TV shows, and people had died.
Imagine the headline over a moving wedding photo of a much-loved St John medic. "Cowboy cops killed my mate".
That would have been a goody.
Give the cops a break. The corrosive, damaging, demoralising and constant criticism of police is more damaging than anything the crims are doing. People bemoan the fact that we don't have enough cops. We can't seem to attract them into the force. Wonder why. Maybe if the community stopped bagging them, the job might seem more attractive.
Yes, there have been bad cops and no doubt there will be more. Police officers are drawn from our own imperfect community, after all.
They're a reflection of us. There is no Stepford Wife-like community, where vice-free robo cops are produced.
But generally, the bad cops are caught and punished. And yes, the image of the police was irrevocably damaged when they were given the job of policing the roads.
It doesn't matter how often the Commissioner witters on that the merging of the forces means more officers on the beat. When a police officer hands you a ticket for not wearing a seatbelt in the back seat of a taxi, you're not going to see him as your hero and saviour.
Perception is everything and while cops are perceived to be revenue collectors for the Government, their position in society will remain diminished. But give these young men and women a break.
If there are problems with procedures, blame the administrators not the men and women who respond to a call for help from a person they don't know.
The complaints about the time it took for the police to secure the scene seems to me that we're sending a message to cops that their lives don't matter. Only ours do. Think about that the next time you bemoan the lack of police recruits.
