The odd ‘rotten apple’

Press, 7 July 1977, Page 1

The odd ‘rotten apple’

Mr D. H. Stringer, a lawyer with considerable experience of criminal cases, says he is quite certain that police malpractice occurs in Christchurch — but not to the extent suggested by the Auckland lawyers. “I’m inclined," he said, "to go along with Mr Justice Wilson, who considers that there is the odd rotten apple in the police barrel. I don’t know how much of it goes on. Quite a long time ago, when I did more of this kind of work, I had fairly strong feelings on the matter.

"Clients charged with criminal offences often say they have been beaten up by the police, but in 99 cases out of 100 I don’t believe them. In most instances they know that they can complain to the police at the time, and they haven’t done so.”

Several years ago, said Mr Stringer, the names of the same policemen cropped up regularly in complaints of police violence. He had received one or two complaints recently, but did not know whether any particular policemen had reputations for illtreating suspects.

In some instances, clients had showed him bruises or other evidence which could support accusations of police violence. But the police answer was that the person concerned had fallen over, or had struggled while being arrested. “The trouble is,” he said, "that the police are on one side, and the other person involved is someone concerned with an offence of some kind. It is the word of the police against the word of the accused.”

Police inquiries into allegations of violence were conducted in private, said Mr Stringer. “One doesn’t know what happens.”

He cited a recent case in which a complaint was made to the police of police action in a domestic matter. It was not an allegation of violence, but one of preferential treatment. “As far as I can gather,” said Mr Stringer, “the police investigated the matter internally without ever seeing my client, the complainant.” Mr Stringer said he was particularly concerned about police mis-use of verbal statements. Frequently, he said, there were indignant denials from the

accused when police quoted from “verbals” noted at the time of questioning. “Verbals” are not written statements, but are a policeman’s recollection or notes of an accused person’s answers. Mr Stringer says that he advises his clients to insist on making written statements, and on getting a copy. “It is easy to write things down in such a way that they reflect to the detriment of the person saying it,” said Mr Stringer. "It can be close to the original, but with small changes to the wording. The policeman knows what makes a good statement from the point of view of the prosecution.” Mr Stringer said that he preferred to take down the statement for his client, but the police did not like that. But when he was present, said Mr Stringer, the police were always scrupulously fair. When falsification of “verbals” was alleged, one man’s word was put against another’s. “A policeman, in theory, has no interest in whether there will be a conviction or not,” said Mr Stringer. “The police have a very difficult job to uphold the

laws, some of which they may not approve of. If a policeman is interviewing a well-known' burglar whom he knows has done a burglary, it is human nature to want to put him out of the way for the benefit of the community, and to slant the record to do so.

He believes that the court system needs overhauling.' Verbal statements to the police should not be admitted as evidence. In Britain it had been suggested that such interviews might be taperecorded.

One allegation of falsification of evidence, which Mr Stringer believes to be true, was made in Christchurch three years ago. A group of people who were involved in the drug scene kept some cannabis in a Rinso packet on their front porch. One day it disappeared. Soon after, police arrived with a search warrant, charged upstairs and “found” the missing packet of “grass” in the middle of the room. Mr Stringer was called in to the case by another party, and no charges were laid. He thinks that was probably because of his intervention.