rivettingKateTaylor

It has taken a couple of days to think about the furore going on about our police officers – two aspects: people running away from them and others turning on them.

Why are so many NZ media outlets so quick to jump on the police-bashing bandwagon after a crash during a police chase. The only advice here would be “if a police car turns on the blue and reds – stop your car!” It’s not the police officers’ fault if you crash while you’re trying to get away from them – it is THE LAW to stop for flashing police lights. They are BREAKING THE LAW!

If you want to speed away from a police car, whatever happens is your responsibility. You should be accountable for the decision you made to speed away from police. They have every right to try to apprehend you – obviously you have something to hide if you’re trying to get away from them!

Imagine a world where everyone speed away from the cops when pulled over and the officers just shrugged their shoulders and said “oh well, missed that one”.

Some cops are jerks.  Most are great. All of them are ordinary people – someone’s parent, someone’s spouse, someone’s sibling, someone’s offspring – charged with making our NZ a safer place. If a police officer says jump, we should ask “how high” and worry about the logistics of the jump later (within reason, obviously, we’re not stupid).

And as for the lowlifes who think they should be able to assault police officers. They can take a running jump.

My heart goes out to the Snee family of Takapau/Napier and the Umbers family of Ranfurly, to name but two of many who have died in the line of duty in my lifetime.  There are hundreds more who have been assaulted and pummelled in the  line of duty. And I thank them for it, sincerely, from the bottom of my heart, because they are the people pledged with, as I said before, maing our NZ a safer place.

Of course there should be harsher penalties for assaulting police officers (cruelty to an animal probably gets you more time in jail than punching a cop – but that opens up a whole new story!)

We don’t have the potential of putting our lives on the line every time we go to work. They do.

When it came down to the crunch, would you try to step in to help a police officer in trouble? Or anyone in trouble for that matter (with the stabbing of Mark McCutcheon in nearby Ongaonga still firmly in my mind).

I would like to think I would.