Beginner’s Guide to Police Harassment

Vol.46 No.8 | NZPA | Sat September 1st, 2012

New Zealand - A North Island police station received this question from a resident through the feedback section of a local Police website:

“I would like to know how it is possible for police officers to continually harass people and get away with it?”

In response, a sergeant posted this reply:

First of all let me tell you this ... it’s not easy. In the Palmerston North and rural area we average one cop for every 505 people. Only about 60 per cent of those cops are on general duty (or what you might refer to as “general patrols”) where we do most of our harassing.

The rest are in non-harassing units that do not allow them contact with the day to day innocents. At any given moment, only one-fifth of the 60 per cent of general patrols are on duty and available for harassing people while the rest are off duty. So, roughly, one cop is responsible for harassing about 6000 residents.

When you toss in the commercial business and tourist locations that attract people from other areas, sometimes you have a situation where a single cop is responsible for harassing 15,000 or more people a day.

Now, your average eight-hour shift runs 28,800 seconds long. This gives a cop two-thirds of a second to harass a person, and then only another third of a second to drink a Massey iced coffee AND then find a new person to harass. This is not an easy task. To be honest, most cops are not up to the challenge day in and day out. It is just too tiring. What we do is utilise some tools to help us narrow down those people we can realistically harass.

PHONE: People will call us up and point out things that cause us to focus on a person for special harassment. “My neighbour is beating his wife” is a code phrase used often. This means we’ll come out and give somebody some special harassment. Another popular one is, “There’s a guy breaking into a house.” The harassment team is then put into action.

CARS: We have special cops assigned to harass people who drive. They like to harass the drivers of fast cars, cars with no insurance or drivers with no licences and the like. It’s lots of fun when you pick them out of traffic for nothing more obvious than running a red light.  Sometimes you get to really heap the harassment on when you find they have drugs in the car, they are drunk, or have an outstanding warrant on file.

LAWS: When we don’t have phone or cars, and have nothing better to do, there are actually books that give us ideas for reasons to harass folks. They are called “statutes”. These include the Crimes Act, Summary Offences Act, Land Transport Act and a whole bunch of others... They spell out all sorts of things for which you can really mess with people. After you read the law, you can just drive around for a while until you find someone violating one of these listed offences and harass them. Just last week I saw a guy trying to steal a car. Well, the book says that’s not allowed. That meant I had permission to harass this guy.

It is a really cool system that we have set up, and it works pretty well. We seem to have a never-ending supply of folks to harass. And we get away with it. Why? Because, for the good citizens who pay the tab, we try to keep the streets safe for them, and they pay us to “harass” some people.

Next time you are in Palmerston North, give me the old “single finger wave”. That’s another one of those codes. It means, “You can harass me.” It’s one of our favourites.

Beagle looking for a home.

Today I only walked two dogs at Appledown Rescue Kennels http://www.appledown.co.uk/ as the first one was overweight and needed a bit more exercise, his name is......

Pius

A typical Beagle with nose to the ground so much so he got a grass seed up his nose and had a sneezing fit. He will be looked at by the vets to check all is OK.

The second dog was called....

Polly

She is a beautiful dog but very,very nervous. It makes you wonder what she has gone through to be in such a nervous state. Being very calm and talking very quietly was the only way to get her to walk on the lead and I'm sure that with some love and care she will be a very fine companion indeed.

If you would like to see more of Appledown their Facebook page is here...

http://www.facebook.com/groups/68892502164/

Next week on my two hours out from caring it will probably be a visit to the canal to have a look at the narrowboats.

Safety Rules on Re-Homing Rescue Dogs

Last week I never got out due to the sitting service arranging for a sitter to arrive too late for me to do anything but go shopping,one of the annoyances you get being a carer although still grateful that I get respite for a couple of hours a week.
This week a friends wife wanted to come with me to Appledown Kennels  http://www.appledown.co.uk/  to see if there was a dog suitable for their family as she recently had a pet dog put down due to illness and old age. We had a look around the kennels and took these three out for a walk.

MAYA

A beautiful dog which Jayne fell in love with.

SALENA

She was a very friendly dog who loved being made a fuss of. On the way around the field she flopped down on the grass in the shade and refused to move, I think one of the ways she had learnt how to get more of a fuss made of her.

ROWENA

Another great dog who badly needs a good home.

Jayne decided she would like Maya so proceeded to fill in forms to register her details.

I had left her to do this as shopping was called for but that evening I had a phone call from her saying she had been refused to own the dog. She was very upset and said that because she had two children under the age of seven the kennels refused her ownership and advised her to get a puppy.

Apparently the rules are no rescue dog over one year old is to be allocated to a family with children under the age of seven.

Now you can see the sense in this rule as you never know what a dog has gone through before reaching the rescue kennels which could easily manifest itself in an attack on a young child even though the dog might appear to be fine on first impressions. A very responsible rule I think.

The pictures below are views looking out from the entrance to the kennels towards Dunstable Downs on the right hand side of the picture where London Gliding Club http://www.londonglidingclub.co.uk/ fly their gliders, which reminds me I did qualify to fly solo in a glider in a two week holiday many years ago, I must find the log I have and post it on a blog.

A panoramic view from the entrance. As you can see it's a lovely spot out in the countryside. What more could you want.

Next week will depend on the weather.

More Dogs at Appledown Rescue Centre.

Today was a good day to walk the dogs at Appledown http://www.appledown.co.uk/ not too hot with a slight breeze. I only had time to walk three dogs before having to return to do the weekly shopping. People give dogs some funny names  and I think I had three of them today. First on the list was ...

Grogan.

For the first fifteen minutes he pulled ahead but after half an hour he had settled down and gave me a look at the end of his walk to say thanks.

Next for a walk was...

Roseaide.

I hope I spelt her name correctly.

This dog barked for Britain and would not stop for 20 minutes, after this she calmed down and enjoyed the rest of her walk. If a dog has not had a walk for two days they are bound to be mad once let out but in the end they all calm down and most are very nice dogs.

Last for their walk today was...

Damalsa.

A beautiful dog who pulled away and just wanted to play with the other dogs on the training field.

I could control him but I don't know how owners of larger dogs who's dog is not trained can be safe when faced with a difficult situation.

This brings me to next weeks four hour release from my caring duties. After talking to the trainer today I plan to take some action pictures of dogs on the training circuit, so depending on the weather I will be getting my larger camera out to take some action shots or if the weather dictates it will be down to the canal to see who's about.

Rushing to open the locks at Marsworth

Today was damp and overcast so I decided another foray at Marsworth was called for. Not a day for pictures but with only two hours to spare I have to make the most of the time, very much like this family who have hired NB Dabcheck from Grebe Canal Cruises at Pitstone rushing to get the lock open for their boat.

Following on you can see the whole family enjoying their day at the lock despite the weather.

At lock 44 NB Mustn't Grumble came slowly out .

At Marsworth top lock NB John Ruskin exited the lock with gongoozlers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gongoozler watching.

The other side of the lock the swans were glad the boat had passed.

I had time to dash up the Wendover Arm and see how it has changed over the years. It's still a quiet arm of the Grand Union canal but some great work has been done by the Wendover Trust http://wendoverarmtrust.co.uk/.

Here is a workboat moored to the piling the lads have added to the canal towpath which will be infilled to give a stable edge to the canal.

A narrowboat comes down the arm towards Bulbourne Junction.

I reached Gamnel Bridge No.2 before having to return after my little jaunt.

It is no wonder these small bridges suffer damage when large loads cross them.

The Canal & River Trust http://canalrivertrust.org.uk/ are putting these signs up to support the wildlife so if you can afford  to please feel free to donate.

Well that's it for this week, next week I must go to the dogs but then I feel I'm there already :)

Little Tring Bridge on the Wendover Arm of the Grand Union Canal

Today on my wanderings I managed to get to another of my old fishing haunts of 45 years ago. I used to cycle to the pumping station at the end of the Wendover Arm of the Grand Union Canal and enjoy the peace and quiet around this lovely part of Marsworth. Now I like brickwork, don't ask me why but I always admire old brick walls and the many colours you get so what a delight to find that the old bridge at the pumping station has been demolished and a magnificent bridge built as an replacement all thanks to the Wendover Arm Trust.http://wendoverarmtrust.co.uk/ Just look at the brickwork in this bridge.

Here are the commemorative plaques on the side of the bridge.

The canal has also been extended past the bridge by a volunteer workforce to which great credit is due.

Moored just before the bridge is NB Mithra enjoying the solitude that I found all those years ago.

On the way back I thought I would have a look to see what narrowboats were moored at Star Tops End,so I parked up in the car park and had a wander.

A shame to see the White Lion pub has closed down and has been for a while now which is happening far too frequently, this was another watering hole in my past.

Walking further up the cut it was nice to see a family enjoying a day out on the school holidays in a narrowboat hired from Grebe Canal Cruises at Pitstone, I wonder if the little girl caught anything, probably more than I used to.

This reminded me I was going to revisit the Waterside Cafe at Pitstone http://www.pitstonewharf.co.uk/ as they were not open the last time I went during February so on the way back to the car park I took a picture of the rear entrance to the Bluebell Tea Rooms.

Arriving at the Waterside cafe I had one and three quarters of an hour to have a bite to eat then get the weekly shop so I could not stay long, so a cup of tea and a slice of apple and almond cake went down well.

This is the view out of the window...

...and the front cover of the menu.

Now I had time to have a quick look outside at the cruise boat the Chiltern Countess.

In the water there were large mirror carp obviously used to being fed from the cafe.

Now I had to dash back to get the weekly shopping.

Well that was my time out from caring for this week next week who knows where.

Hot Dog Walking

This week on my four hours respite from caring I went over to Appledown rescue centre http://www.appledown.co.uk/ to walk the dogs. It was a bit warm at 20 Deg C but with a slight breeze it was a pleasant day to be outside.
I don't know why but the three dogs I took out this week were all a bit mad, probably a bit hyped up being in the kennels and it being warm. The first one was called...MUNGO

A lovely little dog with Jack Russell traits but after half an hour settled down. A nice dog for someone who likes company on walks.

Next dog was ...LAYLA

A hyperactive dog who would not keep still, jumping and barking at everything but again after half an hour she settled down and started to enjoy her walk.

Last dog out today was ... FERGUS

He was quite funny as he constantly pulled on the lead trying to power ahead with his legs going twenty to the dozen trying to get away. As you can see it was his tongue that ended up trying to cool such a hot dog.

Outside the office is a picture board showing potential owners some of the dogs in the kennels.

After that I went off to do the weekly shop and look forward to next week to either walk along the canal or walk the dogs again.