time to lower the BAC limit - New Zealand Police Association

PoliceNewsThe Voice of PoliceWrite it here! Letters to the Editor are welcome.Signed letters are preferred, but in all cases the writer’s name and address must be supplied. Names will be published unless there is a goodreason for anonymity. The editor reserves the right to edit, abridge or decline letters without explanation. Email to: editor@policeassn.org.nz orwrite it to the Editor at PO Box 12344, Wellington. Letters under 400 words are preferred.The reasons for those line-upsI read an article recently in the Police Newsfrom an unidentified Counties-ManukauPolice staff member. The member raised thesubject of the new initiative of weekly lineupsfor frontline staff. The member went onto say that: “This is the Police, not the Army”and continued to talk to a range of issues.For me, this article identified two issues.Firstly, the member did not feel comfortableraising the issue with a supervisor, AreaCommander or myself. Secondly, themember may not appreciate the truepurpose of the line-up.On the first point, I would like all staff tofeel confident in the knowledge that ifthey have an issue, or they disagree withan initiative, that their bosses, includingmyself, are mature enough to acceptconstructive feedback. These situations arisebecause of a lack of our communicatingthe purpose of the initiative or a lack ofour understanding of current frontlineissues. Open communication is the key.My Email address is easy to find, as is yourArea Commander’s. The door to my officeis always open. If you have an issue, an ideaand/or a solution, I am keen to hear it.On the second point, I would like to reaffirmthe purpose of the weekly line-ups,which I anticipate should take no morethan five to 10 minutes of your time, once aweek. A key Police value is professionalism- the first aim of the line-up is to ensurewe are at our presentable best when we goout on the street, and we have the requiredappointments to maintain personal and teamsafety. The second purpose of the line-up isfor your Response and Tactical Managersand Area Commanders to communicatesome key messages to you regularly, sofrontline staff are across some of the morestrategic issues.On a final point, the member refers to alack of resources. I think it is important forme to acknowledge the significant increasein resources afforded to this District overpast months - 300 extra staff, extra vehicles,computers, safety equipment and buildings.I believe the District is in great shape and weare well on the way to achieving our visionfor Counties-Manukau - where people feelsafe and are safe.Mike Bush(District Commander)Motor bike training a great successRecently, the Wellington District RoadPolicing Group ran a day long motorbiketraining course at the Royal New ZealandPolice College (RNZPC).It was open to all Wellington District staffthat owned a motorbike and wanted to upskill themselves in handling, slow speedmanoeuvring, hazard awareness and brakeand escape techniques.The reason for running such a course wasrecognition that there are more motorbikeson NZ roads than ever before and a recentexplosion in bike numbers at WellingtonCentral has emphasised the need to offersome basic (and not so basic) riding safetytips to improve overall rider safety.The response from the bully board messageand poster was very encouraging - so goodin fact that over a dozen people had to beturned away due to limitations on venue sizeand available facilitators.The day kicked off just after 0900hrs witha quick introduction and brief of the day’sintended activities, followed by a very quicklecture on the systems of motorcycle control.Then it was on to the actual riding.The riders were shown some cone layoutson the parade ground and yours truly wasgiven the task of showing them how to do itright. All went well until I did the second lapof the offset cone weave where I promptlyskittled a cone and had to go back and showthem again. Yes, I could hear the laughingover the engine of my own bike (even theexperts have bad days you know). “Yeahright” I hear you say.Activities included 90-degree pull outs,intersection layouts, figure eight, offset conelayout, non-breaking cone weave, leaningin/out and with the bike (full use of thecollege’s skid track was used for this).The day finished with a brake and escapeexercise and the randomiser, which isbasically a whole lot of cones thrown aroundthe place where the rider has an entry andexit point and has to try and negotiate hisbike through without striking any of thecones - fun for all was had on that. The lookon some of the faces was priceless.Feedback has been very positive withthe overall consensus being that this wasan excellent initiative by the WellingtonDistrict administration.Through Police News I would like to takethis opportunity to thank a few peoplewithout whose help this would not havebeen possible - Greg Thomas (motor bikeinstructor RNZPC), whose instructionwas second-to-none; Kevin Guthriefrom Tasman (TAG) and Andrew GilbertWellington (STU); Roy Hitchcock fromNZTA who supplied some CDs to hand out,and Inspector Peter Baird (RPG ManagerWellington), who has supported our effortsand who generously provided funds so wecould have a free lunch at the college.Ride safe out there.Graeme Bergh(Wellington)The dangers posed by U-turnsEnough is enough. For years innumerablemembers have faced legal charges and riskedserious injury whilst executing U-turns toinitiate pursuits after speeding motorists.More importantly, in the last couple of years,one motorcyclist was seriously injured andanother maimed. Now the inevitable deathhas occurred.The Police Department will not ban thispatently unsafe work place practice. It istime for the Police Association to call in theLabour Department to require the PoliceDepartment to instruct staff to stop thisdangerous practice.Once banned by the department, membersshould face the same prosecutionconsequences as any other motorist who isinvolved in a collision whilst executing a U-turn.If the Police choose not to ban the practice,it is the Police Department who should facea Labour Department prosecution when, notif, the next collision happens.Mark Leys(Auckland)Time to get tough on thosewho instigate pursuitsYet again, I read the latest news and see therehave been more pursuit-involved crashesand fatals, this time to innocent parties aswell as those attempting to evade Police.Having been an active follower of Policepolicy and also actively involved in pursuits,it is with continuing frustration that we(the frontline police) are seeing no attemptsby either the Police administration nor146June 2010