Cabinet paper summarising results of public consulation, August 2007

Cabinet paper summarising results of public consulation, August 2007

It is indeed intellectually alarming to read the submissions summarised by the Cabinet discussion paper. There is a definite sense of a set of new legislations for the sake of having laws that legalise the activity of police is overtaken by internal opinion that essentially any redrafting is a statement of the status quo.

If there needs to be an element of tradition in Government that does not swing from right to left, it would seem that would be the Police - the keepers of the meaning of tradition. There is a simple truth to reality, and then there is opposition to that. Sometimes, Government by committee results in a synthesis of the black and the white. And that is called gray. It is duller to the eye and when applied to legislation, it is an attempt to say one thing when saying another that results in unclear motives for law.

The purpose of the police is best expressed in simple terms:
e.g. "to keep order"

Overriding principals that make sense allow one to form more complex judgments later. It may seem very right-wing to say that basic principals aside, the function of police is fundamental to the operation of civil life. And if their function causes more civility, then their function is generally going to be more correct.

When the function of police is the creation of disorder (for example, the violent action of military police in Burma is out of proportion to the harm done by protesters who are merely exercising their ability to speak out) - society loses its essential guardians to chaos.

The role of a police officer is to maintain, not bring, order in civil life. If life is not civil, then the conduct of commerce becomes false. In a corrupt world, the Police will be corrupted. It requires the establishment of a social order for the Police to uphold for the Police to be police and not military.

And in the pursuit of order, the Police have a role to guarantee to society that wrong-doers will be found and pursued when it can be proven by a trail of reliable evidence (and not intervention by a convinced law officer) that harm has been done and then the full force of the Law is enacted by the officers to expose the truth to the balances of justice.

Police are not there to punish or judge. It is their function to bring order. The Police who confuse their function with the military are guilty of murder. Police who prevent violence are the most valued.

It is the function of Justice to redress wrongs. It is the function of Police to preserve and present the Truth and bring Order to those who seek chaos. If a Police officer breaks the law then that act is subject to Justice but investigation of the Police by the Police is to taint them so it is necessary to have a Civilian authority above the Police.

The Minister states "I believe the best way to facilitate consideration of the broad range of topics within the Police Act Review is to submit a suite of papers to Cabinet for policy decisions..." and "Timing wise, I intend to bring all six papers forward for consideration by the Cabinet Policy Committee in September 2007."