Jailed policeman on book cover

Press, 1 September 1986, Page 9

Jailed policeman on book cover

PA Auckland A former police constable jailed for six months on a fraud charge, features on the front cover of the police centennial book, “In the Line of Duty,” the “Sunday Star” newspaper reports.

Red-faced staff at police headquarters admit they supplied the photograph by mistake to the book’s author, Murray Hill.

The former constable, who resigned from the force in late 1982, beams from the book's cover with two young children in his arms.

The Commissioner of Police, Mr Ken Thompson, hopes the book will show “the dedication of staff to protecting our society.”

The incident has caused mirth in police stations throughout New Zealand, but is an embarrassment to staff at police headquarters. “In the Line of Duty” is

now in bookshops, and the police centennial organising team in Wellington has to accept the error.

The constable was found guilty in 1983 of the theft by misappropriation of a $2500 cheque he received to finance a youth exchange trip he was organising for young Polynesians and American Indians.

He was acquitted of four other charges. Mr Hill knew nothing of the identity or the history of the constable in the picture he chose for the cover of his book. It was in a box of photographs supplied by the police publicity department, and was picked “because of its appeal." “I would have pulled it Off the cover with no hestitation if I had known,” Mr Hill said. On the brighter side, he said the publicity might help sell a few more copies.