Police views on tour sought

Press, 7 December 1981, Page 24

Police views on tour sought

PA Wellington The Police Association wants its members to contribute to Springbok-tour archives so that they are not “cast as the villians.” The association’s research officer, Mr Graham Butterworth. believes that myths are likely to be spun round the tour as they have over the 1913 strike, the Depression. and the 1951 wharf strike. He said that the two strikes had been failures but were now seen as "heroic assertions of workers' rights." Similarly, the tour, which had involved many people, often with passionately-held views, might easily be' seen in the years ahead as an "heroic assertion of a moral

stand, with the police being cast as the villains.” The police's position was much more complex than that. Policemen had obligations to safeguard the rights of people at lawful events and to safeguard people from injury. It was important for policemen, who were as deeply divided on the issue as the rest of the community, to express their experiences and reactions to the tour. The association plans to forward members' contributions to a tour archive established at Canterbury University. Mr Butterworth and the association's secretary. Dr K. A. Moodie. have also agreed to be interviewed on the tour by Victoria University's history department.