New Zealand police defend decision to charge speeding policeman

January 25, 2007

The New Zealand police have defended their choice to charge a policeman with dangerous driving after being caught on a hidden speed camera at around 65 kilometres over the legal speed limit.

Sergeant Gregory Arthur Smith was charged with dangerous driving after he responded to a priority one emergency, which requires immediate police attention. Sergeant Smith was caught on a hidden speed camera at 115 kilometres per hour in a school zone, the legal limit was 50 km/h. Sergeant Smith was discharged without conviction in court yesterday.

Inspector Kerry Griffiths, has said that the police had made the correct decision to charge Sergeant Smith with dangerous driving.

Inspector Griffiths said that according to clear police policy, a police officer is not to put the public or other police officers into risk while responding to an emergency, under no exception.

Inspector Griffiths, ex-southern road policing manager, has claimed that there was already other police officer on their way to the crash and Sergeant Smith's speed was not warranted. He said that police have a duty to drive responsibly, even though they do have the power to exceed the speed limit.