Let Those Without Sin..

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4058831a10.html

You would think a 26 year old story would have to be sufficiently juicy enough to warrant all the media attention this piece is getting but no. Howard Broad didn't murder or rape anyone, nor did he allow that to happen in his house, nor did he allow anyone to show bestiality porn in his house, what DID he do then to deserve all the media attention?

The police commissioner of New Zealand hosted a party 26 years ago and one of the people at the party (not a police party, a rugby team party) brought a video that the commissioner was unaware of, that this person played, or attempted to play without the knowledge of Howard Broad, who was 23yrs old at the time. Now a magazine has published an article on this "incident" and casts the integrity of Howard Broad into doubt because of this event, held unbeknownst to him, 26 years ago.

Broad does not deny this happened. He did not watch it and he was angry that someone brought it into his home. What more could he do? He couldn't have prevented it happening, and he stopped it when he knew about it. I wonder who really cares about the whole thing. If he was caught watching this stuff now as the police commissioner, that is a different story, but come on, how can we condemn someone for something that happened 26 years ago when they had no control over it? It is just a blatant example of someone with a grudge. I do not believe we can expect to have all our leaders as sin-free or saints as we often expect them to. Who ever said they had to be perfect? Why do we have to make them pay for every "mistake" in their lives? What is to be gained for reporting this? Nothing positive for Broad, his family or the people that work for him and need his respect.

Much has been said about the police culture lately and I believe too much has been categorised as police culture when it should be categorised as Kiwi male culture. What happens or what happened when men get/got together in rugby circles, office parties, farm drink-ups or police gatherings was not just limited to police staff. We all know or have heard of parties that ended up going over some moral lines, it shouldn't be all blamed on just police culture.

I do concede there was and still is a distinct police culture that exists in New Zealand that I have witnessed with my own eyes. But I do not concede that every New Zealand police officer is a part of this culture or that it exists as an underworld as has been suggested. The police culture that I know is a way of helping cope with the many varied situations that police have to deal with everyday and includes comradorie and mutual humour, understanding. We can't expect police to be perfect and just as in every other group, there are going to be some bad eggs that will need to be exposed and rooted out.

Of course police officers have to abide by the law just like everyone else, and any accusations of rape, discrimination etc should not be treated the same as this incident as I believe the media are trying to do by painting a picture that all NZ police are deviant. But this incident needs to be acknowledged for what it is and what it is not. How can we compare rape with this latest incident? We have to be aware of the influence of the medias comparisons - these separate incidents of inappropriate police behaviour and what happened at Howard Broad's party 26 years ago are not the same!

I think a lot of that Kiwi (male) culture has died off due to more women in the workforce and families have been given priority over workmates playtime.. perhaps society has changed for the better in at least this area. Or perhaps we've just grown up..