Police need to set a higher standard, even if the crooks don’t change – Jarrod Gilbert

The cop who punched a threatening inmate at the Manukau District Court last year has been investigated by the IPCA.

OPINION

Dr Jarrod Gilbert is the director of independent research solutions and a sociologist at the University of Canterbury.

Crooks haven’t changed but the police have. A recent incident in police cells highlighted this well.

Police cells in New Zealand used to be rough-and-tumble places, to put it mildly. They were places where fights between hoods and cops were common, and informal justice was meted out.

This was expected and accepted by many villains. Violence is a normal means of dispute resolution in the underworld, and that extended to violence by police. The former head of the notorious Harris Gang – and later president of the Christchurch Road Knights – Darryl Harris told me many years ago: “Look, if you hit a cop, you can expect to be given a hiding [by the police] at the station. It’s seen as fair ‘cause that’s expected.”

After the infamous Moerewa riot of the late 70s involving a pitched battle between the Stormtroopers and police, the police made the arrested gang members walk the gauntlet. Lining both sides of the corridor, they beat the men as they made their way through. No complaints were laid. The gangs knew they had overstepped the mark, and this was seen as a fair cop.

It was a different time. For the police, at least.

Gang members and villains still strike out at police, but the police’s attitude towards taking matters into their own hands has transformed over the years.

So, when a police custody officer punched a gang member in Manukau District Court cells last year, the event was investigated by the police and the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA).

Here’s how the incident went down. From the time the gang member arrived at the cells, he was “slow to comply... and belligerent”. He shouted out, “F*** the police, f*** the pigs.” All rather standard fare, so far. He went on to challenge the police officer to a fight, and then threatened to shoot the officer and his family. To many principled villains, bringing up the officer’s family may be seen as a step too far, and one imagines the custody officer was at this stage getting hot under the collar.

Then a punch was thrown.

The cop says he struck the man in self-defence, as the prisoner had continued with his hostile threats and moved towards him. Yet footage of the incident, at least as far as the IPCA is concerned, didn’t demonstrate that well. While the prisoner was shouting threats, his movements went past the officer rather than directly at him and the prisoner’s hands remained at his side.

The IPCA concluded the custody officer’s actions were unjustified, but agreed with police that no charges should be laid. The IPCA did, however, believe it warranted disciplinary action, but the custody officer had resigned before the report was released. In police, as in politics, resignations are often the way problems disappear.

I expect some people will lament the fact that a bit of “rough justice” from the police is now seen as unacceptable. Primitive parts of our brain are attracted to the idea of swift justice undertaken by the good guys – after all, it’s the premise of many great action films. But what separates us from the crooks and makes our justice system laudable is the fact we don’t allow police to act like that.

Crooks get to behave poorly and disrespect the police because, well, they’re crooks. The police, however, are professionals. Part of being a cop means allowing abuse to wash over you. Is that hard? Enormously, but loads of people’s jobs are difficult and that’s the standard we must demand.

Many countries have violent and bullying police forces, and the defence against moving in that direction is vigilance. This case shows that when a relatively minor assault, with at least a credible self-defence argument, comes to light, it will be pursued.

Are all New Zealand police officers acting in professional ways all the time? Nope. Is the system perfect? Nope. Are we moving in the right direction? History certainly says so.

Some things, however, don’t change. Whatever the guy who was punched in the cells thinks about all of this is entirely unknown. Sticking with the long underworld tradition, he refused to co-operate with the investigation.

Yep, the cops are changing, but the crooks aren’t.