Talks with police, protesters urged

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32406, 19 September 1970, Page 12

Talks with police, protesters urged

Prior talks between the organisers of demonstrations and the police is one course on which everyone is agreed.

The police are all for getting together with demonstrators beforehand so they know as much as possible about what is planned. And this was spelled out by the Commissioner (Mr W. H. A. Sharp) in his recent updated instructions which emphasised a lowkey approach, and dialogue.

He also laid down rules calling for the greatest tact, tolerance and restraint, and avoiding precipitate action. Coolness, confidence and where possible, good humour, are also urged. The specific role of the Police is probably best summed up in the instruction: “Every effort has to be made to maintain a reasonable balance between the individual’s democratic rights of free speech and peaceful demonstrations, and the rights of others to be secure in their lives and property, and to be free from intimidation, interference, or molestation.” There is, of course, a limit to what a policeman will , stand from demonstrators, singing, shouting and a reasonable amount of banter are reasonable, the Police say. What is unreasonable, they consider, is the sort of action such as turning over cars and excessive abuse of the police. Preserving peace Objectives of the Police have been laid down as to preserve peace and protect life and property. But just what constitutes “peace” in terms of a protest march is difficult to define. Thinking members of the Police are well aware of the relationship between how they handle demonstrations, and the public image. It is significant that included in the instructions is a clause urging that comment on the merits of the demonstration should not be made.

How the police will act in dealing with demonstrators, particularly students, depends also on individual attitudes. And here the Police has good reasons for detailing older and more mature men to be in closest proximity.

Reaction to the Commission’s re-statement of the ground rules for demonstrations has varied among younger policemen, and some envisage problems in complying to the letter. They apparently feel they might be called on to act in a way that is publicly unpopular. An important factor in police-public relations is- the education and training of policemen. And there could well be a basic difference in attitude between a 19 or 21-year-old policeman and a university student half-way through a degree course. Attitude of youth I asked Christchurch’s chief superintendent (Mr Gideon Tait) whether he felt the attitude of young people had changed over the years. He agreed that in some cases they identified the Police with authority, or the Establishment. “There is a more defiant, challenging, almost petulant, attitude,” he said. “And they are more quickly upset.” But he is a strong advocate of showing that the Police is prepared to go more than half-way to bargain with demonstrators. And this involves a rapport between the two—something which he said he was able to develop effectively, largely through

his participation and contacts through sport, while in Dunedin. Mr Tait also holds the view that some of the lack of respect for the police and the identification of policemen as symbols of the Establishment comes from some secondary school teachers. These teachers he defines as “whining Poms.” This is obviously a touchy point with Mr Tait, and he maintains that while wrong attitudes towards police are not taught directly, they are in subtle ways. No-one would say that the question of controlling demonstrations is simply a matter of discussions beforehand, and a certain amount of rapport. The attitudes of both policemen themselves and of demonstrators are important. But the view that sooner or later the Police must “get tough,” as they do in France or Japan, seems to me to be completely negative, and it seems as much will depend in the future on how the young policeman acts under stress as how the demonstrator acts.