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Tolley brushes off OFCANZ blunders

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Tolley brushes off OFCANZ blunders

3News NZ

Police Minister Anne Tolley

Police Minister Anne Tolley

Police Minister Anne Tolley is defending the Organised and Financial Crime Agency (OFCANZ) after a series of gaffes, including a fake prosecution that saw a judge throw out charges against 21 gang members.

Justice Simon France has issued a stay of proceedings on drugs and criminal group charges against the members of the Red Devils Motorcycle Club, after police were revealed to have brought a fake prosecution against an undercover officer posing as a bikie.

They used a fake warrant to search the undercover officer's lock-up, and then laid false charges against the officer in an attempt to give him more credibility with the motorcycle club he was infiltrating.

OFCANZ also organised the raid on internet piracy-accused millionaire Kim Dotcom's mansion in January, but a judge later ruled the search warrants in that case were illegal.

Both operations were headed by Detective Inspector Grant Wormald.

However, Mrs Tolley says she has no concerns about OFCANZ's operations.

"I certainly back the police who are out there, trying to bring these criminals to justice, and they have to stay one step ahead. These are very sophisticated people acting outside the law," she said.

Asked whether OFCANZ was operating without regard for due process, Mrs Tolley replied: "the reality is police take over 130,000 prosecutions through our court system every year. Some of them are simple, some of them are complex".

"We cannot tie both hands behind their backs and expect them to be able to break into and break up these very sophisticated criminal organisations."

It has been revealed the police manual at the time of the fake prosecution said "police must not allow an arrested agent to appear under a fictitious name without the permission of the court. Deceiving the court is not permitted".

The manual has since changed but Mrs Tolley said she did not know whether that section was now different.

Mrs Tolley says she will not consider an investigation into OFCANZ while police are yet to decide whether to appeal Justice France's ruling.

NZN

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Comments

5/11/2012 11:26:40 a.m.

harriaway wrote:

The newzealand police have being out off order now for a number of years especially since this government was voted in we have seen the merging of police corrections justice and government when in fact they should all stand alone .the same happened in the 1930 s in germany , the ussr before that and later in south americas chille what we have now is a government that believes the rule of law does not apply to itself . This is to be expected from a government that embraces a war criminal state such as israil and the likes of sirilanka;

27/10/2012 9:26:40 a.m.

dennis wrote:

With David Collins and Chris Finlayson advising it is not surprising that Mrs Tolley has gained a rather odd view of what is and what is not appropriate policing. "Mr Finlayson has already appointed four NZ Supreme Court judges (NZ's highest court comprises five judges), including his former law firm associate Bill Wilson who was forced to resign months after the appointment for misconduct on the bench". "On 14 October 2007, in a private meeting with then-Prime Minister Helen Clarke, Deputy PM Michael Cullen and Justice Minister Annette King, then-SG Collins gave the approval for nationwide raids the next day under the Terrorist Suppression Act 2002. Justice Collins was not only head of Crown Law at the time, but the only lawyer at this meeting" [kiwisfirst.com]

26/10/2012 2:03:28 p.m.

Mal wrote:

Is this woman for real? One law for some and a different one for others. She needs to be sacked. This govt is one big joke.

25/10/2012 9:52:55 p.m.

Stewart wrote:

Quote Anne Tolley : " THE LAW IS THE LAW "

25/10/2012 9:26:37 p.m.

ruleoflaw wrote:

What is happening in nz? NZ was once a respected,admired little country in the south pacific,now all overseas country's hear and see is how corrupt our governence has become and how the people of the land feel powerless to stop the invasion of their rights,to the north island and to the south,christchurch being a prime example of a govt takeover of a city and taking the rights off them,now it
seems that breaking into private properties is ok and to have the judiciary 'fooled' by the police is ok,
following pressure from outside sources
an investigation is going to be held,by the police of course,how bizzare,a top level investigation needs to be held that is open and transparent and conducted in a mannner that the public is happy with.

25/10/2012 6:04:37 p.m.

dennis wrote:

The false or forged warrant represents a criminal offence by the author of it under sections 111 or 114 of the Crimes Act (3 year penalty). Cannot be justified or excused by harmless intent and neither would such action be approved, nor could it, by a judge. That does not mean that the charges should have been stayed. It just means that the act of forging a warrant in itself should be charged. The Dotcom warrants were not merely technically "illegal". They were so deficient as to render the resultant actions -- including, I hope, the arrests -- "unlawful" (criminal) amounting to trespass. Described aptly in the Finnish Criminal Code, which claims to protect its Citizens from offences directed at them from anywhere: "Aggravated invasion of domestic premises. If, in the invasion of domestic premises, (1) the offender is equipped with a weapon or another instrument suitable for personal violence for the purpose of committing the offence, (2) the victim of the offence has a valid reason to fear for his or her personal safety owing to threats pertaining to the offence, damage caused to property or the number of offenders or participants, and the invasion of domestic premises is aggravated also when assessed as a whole, the offender shall be sentenced for an aggravated invasion of domestic premises to a fine or to imprisonment for at most two years"

25/10/2012 3:41:00 p.m.

JT wrote:

The police are there to uphold the law. They do NOT do that by breaking it. No double standards.