Police ban 'political' leaflets from stations

The Sensible Sentencing Trust is angered by a memo issued to police stations nationwide ordering them to remove all of the trust's literature from stations.

"This is just another slap in the face for victims' rights and freedom of speech in this country," said spokesman Garth McVicar.

However, police spokesman John Nielson said the order didn't specifically relate to the trust, but to any paraphernalia of a "political nature".

"The issue came up around Sensible Sentencing Trust -- who are a political lobby group -- but it's more to do with that fact that we have a heck of a lot of brochure material on police front desks and unless it's directly police-related it's not appropriate," he told NZPA.

Mr McVicar said in a statement Mr Nielson's explanation was "absolute rubbish" and police had an ulterior motive.

He said he had a "sneaky suspicion" a recent exposure of problems within police management was the real reason behind the order.

"We make no secret of the fact we support our police force, we want more police and less crime. Since when has that been political?" he said.

Mr Nielson, however, was unperturbed.

"Literature on front desks and in police stations has to be police related and we just advised staff to be aware of that," he said.

- NZPA