Law & Order

[chris]

I swerved to avoid any possible injury to another driver, ended up totally my own car, and because I decided not to hit her, I got pinged with a hefty fine + careless driving!

What were you swerving to avoid? Why did you have to swerve to avoid it?

Oh yeah - I wasn't very descriptive, I am sleepy.

I was on the motorway heading North to Orewa, doing 105 ish, overtaking a lady in a blue nissan, she doesn't want to be overtaken, so she "merges" into my lane, I hit the horn, hit the brakes, could'nt avoid hitting her without swerving haha

[Mr. Shine]

Oh yeah - I wasn't very descriptive, I am sleepy.

I was on the motorway heading North to Orewa, doing 105 ish, overtaking a lady in a blue nissan, she doesn't want to be overtaken, so she "merges" into my lane, I hit the horn, hit the brakes, could'nt avoid hitting her without swerving haha

Well if that's the case that's shit, but I don't know the police case. Did you take it to a defended hearing?

[chris]

Oh yeah - I wasn't very descriptive, I am sleepy.

I was on the motorway heading North to Orewa, doing 105 ish, overtaking a lady in a blue nissan, she doesn't want to be overtaken, so she "merges" into my lane, I hit the horn, hit the brakes, could'nt avoid hitting her without swerving haha

Well if that's the case that's shit, but I don't know the police case. Did you take it to a defended hearing?

Haha Nope - I was told by the duty lawyer that I should just plead guilty, it was pretty shit! But oh well. Just my one experience.

[Mr. Shine]

Haha Nope - I was told by the duty lawyer that I should just plead guilty, it was pretty shit! But oh well. Just my one experience.

Wait, what? You pleaded guilty and you're blaming the police you ended up with the penalty?

You can hardly claim you were wrongfully penalised if you pleaded guilty!

[chris]

Haha Nope - I was told by the duty lawyer that I should just plead guilty, it was pretty shit! But oh well. Just my one experience.

Wait, what? You pleaded guilty and you're blaming the police you ended up with the penalty?

You can hardly claim you were wrongfully penalised if you pleaded guilty!

Long story with it. I was 17 at the time, orginally plead not guilty in which case I was summoned again. This time I saw the duty lawyer, and the cock told me to plead guilty, and being 17 first time in court "Oh, I guess I better then"

[Growler]

Hehehehe....I haven't seen this much activity in one post for a long time. Its great!
(But not so great on why this post was raised in the first place... )

[Mr. Shine]

Long story with it. I was 17 at the time, orginally plead not guilty in which case I was summoned again. This time I saw the duty lawyer, and the cock told me to plead guilty, and being 17 first time in court "Oh, I guess I better then"

Seems like a pretty short story to me.

Trust me, duty lawyer did you a favour. You'd have ended up with worse if you'd tried to defend yourself and been found guilty rather than pleaded to it.

You can't exactly claim the police fucked you if you spread wide and took it with a guilty plea though

[hlau028]

Hey guys

Well the police called me yesterday and we talked for like 20 minutes. To sum it up, the conclusion of our discussion was:

There isn't enough evidence to keep this investigation open, house owner's daugther claims she knows nothing of this and she was the one that notified the police of the vehicle in her backyard.

He said unless there were wtinesses willingly to front up or someone admitting to the crime, then there really isn't much they can do. He did explain that there weren't enough resources to keep this case open which i can kind of understand. I mean... catching the person responsible really doesn't benefit the Police department, all its going to do is use up their budgets on something of no real monetary gain.

You guys are correct in doing e-detective work, the street is indeed Miranda Street in Avondale, i won't give out the number of the property but I am sure it's easy to work out. But what can we really do with an address, its not like we can force the truth out of them. Because then it'll make us the criminals..

Sigh.. to be honest, I knew there wasn't much the police can do. They can't force out real answers from the property owners, they will just give answers like .. "oh i don't know... it wasn't mine... I have no idea" then pretty much that's that. And i knew next door will say they didn't see anything, whats the benefit of being a witness, more trouble to them in the future, whether its using time to give evidence or dealing with the people involved in the future, its easier for them to just say they don't know.

I do agree that the punishments in NZ Law is fairly light, therefore these kinds of crimes are let off so lightly so there is no fear to anyone thinking of stealing a vehicle because the chances of being caught are so low.

But don't get me wrong, I am not blaming the NZ Police, I can just say that I blame our society, a society that has created parents that doesn't teach their children whats right and whats wrong to do. Teaching them that a better life is earned and not taken from other people.

No doubt the people involved grew up with parents that either didn't give a sh*t about them or does the same thing that they are doing now.

[dynofiend]

Have karma for the most reasoned and realistic post ive seen in quite a while.

Doesn't make the situation any less sucky mind you.

[chris]

Hey guys

Well the police called me yesterday and we talked for like 20 minutes. To sum it up, the conclusion of our discussion was:

There isn't enough evidence to keep this investigation open, house owner's daugther claims she knows nothing of this and she was the one that notified the police of the vehicle in her backyard.

He said unless there were wtinesses willingly to front up or someone admitting to the crime, then there really isn't much they can do. He did explain that there weren't enough resources to keep this case open which i can kind of understand. I mean... catching the person responsible really doesn't benefit the Police department, all its going to do is use up their budgets on something of no real monetary gain.

You guys are correct in doing e-detective work, the street is indeed Miranda Street in Avondale, i won't give out the number of the property but I am sure it's easy to work out. But what can we really do with an address, its not like we can force the truth out of them. Because then it'll make us the criminals..

Sigh.. to be honest, I knew there wasn't much the police can do. They can't force out real answers from the property owners, they will just give answers like .. "oh i don't know... it wasn't mine... I have no idea" then pretty much that's that. And i knew next door will say they didn't see anything, whats the benefit of being a witness, more trouble to them in the future, whether its using time to give evidence or dealing with the people involved in the future, its easier for them to just say they don't know.

I do agree that the punishments in NZ Law is fairly light, therefore these kinds of crimes are let off so lightly so there is no fear to anyone thinking of stealing a vehicle because the chances of being caught are so low.

But don't get me wrong, I am not blaming the NZ Police, I can just say that I blame our society, a society that has created parents that doesn't teach their children whats right and whats wrong to do. Teaching them that a better life is earned and not taken from other people.

No doubt the people involved grew up with parents that either didn't give a sh*t about them or does the same thing that they are doing now.

As Dynofied, really good response.

I am really sorry for your loss, as I believe the entire NZ Car Scene would be. It is scum that do this.

+1 karma

[Growler]

Out of interest I saw a Red NA MX5 tonight out in Glendene with the same wheels as what hlau028 had.
Not too sure if it was anyone's here? The last 2 digits of the number plate were 77. The car was extremely low and had major camber on the rear.
I know it is a longshot but I'm keeping my eyes and ears open!

[siren676]

I know that car, the guy organises a few car meets out west. Hes had those wheels for ages.

[Growler]

I know that car, the guy organises a few car meets out west. Hes had those wheels for ages.

That looks about right. I only saw it from the rear and side. The driver could have been the guy with the hat on...

[theshrew]

i own the red mx5 in 'question', ive had the wheels for almost 2years now, so don't jump to judgement...
I also never wear hats, that's not me.
maybe this is the reason my roof and rear window have been slashed/pushed in over the last 2 weeks at work?

I know of 4 mx5s in nz (including mine) with these, or the similar rota replica wheels on it.

as for the car, i feel so sorry for the guy that had it stolen, scum out there.

[Skilfil]

maybe this is the reason my roof and rear window have been slashed/pushed in over the last 2 weeks at work?

I doubt thats it, they're a fairly common choice of wheel for the car. And most people would know your car has been around a little bit with the same wheels.

Probably just some jealous dick, mad that hes got an open diff skidda that can't handle for shit.

[Growler]

i own the red mx5 in 'question', ive had the wheels for almost 2years now, so don't jump to judgement...

Calm down...no one is accusing you of anything.
I saw your car on Monday night, recognised the wheels were the same and just asked the question. I did say it was a longshot...

[chris]

Haha both of you nutters calm down, this is the internet, he may or may not have been accusing the shrew and the shrew may or may not have been getting grumpy.

Either way they aren't the wheels.

[Timmo]

3. Treat Drug Users/Addicts as criminals. They are victims of Addiction and Bad decisions. Didn't anyone ever teach the police 9 times out of 10 the bad guy is the one profiting not slowly killing themselves

There is a large difference between a drug user and drug addict. A user has a beer or 3 with dinner, an addict sculls a bottle of spirits and goes back for more.

Why do you think the penalties for methamphetamine supply/production can result in life imprisonment? A large amount of weight in sentencing drug dealers and manufacturers is placed upon the harm they do to society.

Interestingly, that logic is never applied to bottle store owners, breweries or distilleries. On the one hand a drug dealer has to be punished due to the harm his/her product inflicts on society, on the other hand a dealer of another drug (alcohol, more harmful than quite a few illegal drugs) does not.

I agree, although for different reasons. End of the day though, police rarely bother with pure possession charges. They seem to only go ahead with prosecution if it doesn't require testing (ie. cannabis) or if it's alongside other offending at the time. Cannabis possession gets a complete slap on the wrist, anyway. At worst you'd probably end up with only a conviction and no other penalty.

One of the reasons I think our drug laws are a complete farce is due to the reason you have outlined: We have very high prosecution rates for Cannabis and those rates dis proportionally affect Maori.

So one of the least harmful drugs is the one that is most likely to result in a conviction. That makes no-sense to me especially given my first point above: Our society seems able to differentiate between a 'user' and 'addict' of alcohol and does not consider a 'user' to be an addict or require jail or treatment or consider their lives to be 'so sad that they need an escape'. When it comes to other drugs however, suddenly the 'user' is lumped in with the 'addict'* and we wrongly determine that a user somehow deserves to be convicted.

*the ratio between them is about 9/10 'users' to 1/10 'addicts/dependents' who do not have issues with their use....just like most people can keep their alcohol use in check)

[Mr. Shine]

Interestingly, that logic is never applied to bottle store owners, breweries or distilleries. On the one hand a drug dealer has to be punished due to the harm his/her product inflicts on society, on the other hand a dealer of another drug (alcohol, more harmful than quite a few illegal drugs) does not.

Well, like it or not the law is the law. I've certainly got views at least somewhat at odds with drug law in New Zealand, but obviously the law says illegal drugs are so dangerous that no consumption is tolerable, nor any form of supply, whereas alcohol consumption is tolerable as is its supply.

Certainly however bar owners have penalties imposed for serving people who are already grossly intoxicated, so that's perhaps somewhat comparable.

One of the reasons I think our drug laws are a complete farce is due to the reason you have outlined: We have very high prosecution rates for Cannabis and those rates dis proportionally affect Maori.

So one of the least harmful drugs is the one that is most likely to result in a conviction. That makes no-sense to me especially given my first point above: Our society seems able to differentiate between a 'user' and 'addict' of alcohol and does not consider a 'user' to be an addict or require jail or treatment or consider their lives to be 'so sad that they need an escape'. When it comes to other drugs however, suddenly the 'user' is lumped in with the 'addict'* and we wrongly determine that a user somehow deserves to be convicted.

I think you're putting up something of a straw man argument here. Maori being affected by prosecution for cannabis is a result of Maori illegally using and being caught with cannabis. If it's disproportionate it's the sad fate of Maori to either be more likely to be using it or have a higher incidence rate of being caught with it. I don't much agree with it given alcohol's availability, but the fact is that people go into the use of cannabis very aware of its illegality and it's a simple matter of taking responsibility if caught.

Your alcohol user/addict comparison is just plain wrong. Society very much considers simple users of alcohol to deserve punishment and potentially jail time in certain circumstances, and yet in other circumstances that is not the case for recognised addicts. The difference between alcohol and other drugs is that society has deemed the social effects of one to be tolerable in moderation and under regulation and the other to be completely intolerable.