OFF THE WIRE
Police are investigating the actions of some of their own after a botched
undercover operation led to charges against 21 gaxxx members being
dropped.
Last week, Justice Simon France 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.
Police 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.
Police have admitted an internal
investigation into the actions of the police officers involved is under way, the
New Zealand Herald reports.
Justice Forrest Miller had earlier revealed
in a decision denying media full access to the court file that police were
conducting an internal investigation.
A police spokesman has now
confirmed the investigation, saying it would "establish any issues of a criminal
or disciplinary nature".
"Police are absolutely committed to ensuring the
undercover programme operates in a way which puts offenders before the courts
while operating within the law."
The investigation ran alongside a review
of the undercover programme "to ensure this situation does not happen again,"
the spokesman said.
Lawyer Tony Bamford, who was misled into representing an
undercover officer who'd infiltrated the gaxxx, can't see a quick solution to
the case.
"My view, personally, is that the Court of Appeal will be
reluctant to overturn an important decision such as this," he
says.
"There would have to be some fundamentally different arguments
advanced to persuade the court to change the outcome."
Mr Bamford is
interested in how a court will rule on constitutional rights.
"The idea
that the police can use and manipulate the courts and the judiciary as a tool of
their investigation process, frankly that's where the problem arises.
"It blurs the line between the separation of powers."
Mr Bamford
was duped into representing the undercover officer, and says when the operation
was terminated his client simply disappeared.
“I was left with a file
involving a charge, which was an absolute sham,” says Mr Bamford. “I had done
quite a bit of a work, all for nothing, and I haven't been paid.”
Police
say they will be footing his bill.
The Solicitor-General filed an appeal
against Justice France's decision on Thursday
Read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/gaxxx-raid-cops-may-be-charged/tabid/423/articleID/275094/Default.aspx#ixzz2B77PGZYR
