Monday 23 November 2009

Police and drink drive limits revisited

I'd earlier noted that police in New Zealand are basically exempt from drink driving legislation: the courts note that they'd lose their jobs if convicted, view the punishment as exceeding the severity of the offense, and so discharge them without conviction.

So some police officers are able to take advantage of the stringency of their employer's attitude toward drink driving convictions to get leniency from the courts.

Radio New Zealand today reports on how a police legal advisor phoned Air New Zealand about a flight attendant's drink driving charge. The police did not inform the court that they were trying to get her fired, so she received the normal penalty and, in addition, was fired.

Classy stuff. I'll be cheering on the EPMU's complaints with the Police Complaints Authority and the Privacy Commissioner.

It could be worse. At least here they don't shoot unarmed civilians.

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