If the police officer had had a tazer gun, then Stephen would not have died, and neither would the police officer. However if the police officer had only had a baton, then he would have likely been badly wounded or even killed. "Oh, the police officer should have retreated" you hear the bleeding hearts whine. Well as my friend Andrew so consisely put it, "It's not a good thing when a police-officer retreats, how does that look?". He's dead right. The principle of it is that we citizens should obey the law. If we don't, if we choose to run at a police officer holding a loaded weapon, then we suffer the consequences and rightly so.
The media are having a field day, making out that the police-officer and the police force are heartless thugs who use excessive force and abuse their power. As a matter of fact, when it is a matter of life or death as the police-officer obviously observed that it was in this case, the life of the police-officer is worth infinitely more. He has a wife and children who he is supporting, and why should he sacrifice his life just so that some drugged up punk can see what it feels like to stove another man's head in with an axe. I am sad that Stephen has died, however it was his own fault and as a country we should learn from this: give the Police the authority and tools they need to do their job well, and citizens, just do what the police tell you ok.
Stephen Bellingham
Below are 3 Letters to the Editor from The Press, 3 October 2007.
Lisa is a bit hard line, however in some situations it is necessary to stop criminal activity by some level of force, however wherever possible, fatalities should be avoided...
I suggest that all police weapons be withdrawn and that police be given feather dusters with which to defend themselves.
Police dogs should be fitted with sponge rubber teeth, and, to prevent any future dangerous high-speed vehicle pursuits, all Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore cars should be withdrawn from service and the police supplied with pedal cars.
There would then be no further claims of police brutality. We could all feel safe, couldn't we?
S. Kerr, Christchurch
There is something wrong with this country when the police have to justify their actions against the rubbish on the street.
No wonder we have an astronomical crime rate and drug problem, when the police are made to look like the villains and the criminal a victim.
As a law-abiding citizen with a young child, I want to feel safe and know that the police are protecting me and my family - that is, taking out the criminals in any way they have to. If shooting them is the only way to bring them down, so be it.
What kind of country is this going to be when my child grows up? The criminals will be running the country at this rate.
If somebody was smashing my car with a hammer, I would shoot him.
Keep up the good work, New Zealand police.
Lisa Leary, Christchurch
If Stephen Bellingham had been Tasered, he would still be alive today - deservedly shocked but still alive.
If blame must be apportioned in this case, perhaps we should start with the Green Party and the rest of the civil liberties bandwagon who opposed the use of Tasers for incidents such as this one.
We expect the police to protect us from an increasingly feral underclass, but what do we do to provide them with the tools they need to carry out their thankless task?
David Jones, Christchurch
The moral of the story would have to be: don't do party pills.
Heh, while I'm on the subject, ban party pills! Yeah, go crazy you libertarians. But it is generally accepted that such things as methanphetamine and murder are illegal, and so should party pills.
Blaming party pills for this is taking responsibilit away from the nutter who went running around with a hammer. As someone who has actually consumed BZP numerous times, as opposed to just reading the reefer madness style stories in the herald I can confidently say that it has absolutly no effect on ones ability to tell right from wrong or responsible for increased agression. Its level of harm is much, much lower than that of alcahol or tobacco.
ReplyDeleteWhats more, banning BZP then turns all consumers of it into criminals, facing fines and possible prison sentances, at a massive expense to the taxpayer (both in court costs, and jail costs) and harm to those jailed - for what, to prevent them from taking a pill where the only harm (and even that is debatable) is to oneself.
I could go on and on about the issues that probition would cause, increased use of meth/p, money to gangs, increased crime, wasting police time etc - but I'm sure you are well aware of these and conveniently ignoring them.
Criminalising BZP is a case where the cure is much, much worse than the supposed disease.
There has not been a single case anywhere in the world where BZP has been found solely responsible for death or major harm. Sure its been a contributing factor in cases where mixed with alcahol or illicit drugs, but you don't seem to hear alcahol being blamed, as thats a nice, taxable and supposedly socially acceptble drug.
Tell me, have you had any direct experiance with BZP? or is it all based on the media beat up you have read in the papers.
My advice is, do your research first.
Mike, for one thing, I never blamed party pills for Stephen's actions, and never would. Of course he is responsible for his own actions.
ReplyDeleteYou would agree with me, I'm sure that certain activites that are harmful to people should be legislated against by the government. Such things as "doing methamphetamine" or killing people, for example.
The people I see loitering outside the shoddy party pill places in Christchurch here do not look up to much good. These places such as "herbal heaven", "big momma's" and "Jordy's party pills" are a blight on our otherwise pretty darn nice city.
You can have a couple of beers and still be in top shape, however I believe that a party pill will make you pretty high very fast.