By JOSIE CLARKE
The Gisborne public supports its police, but it will not tolerate officers travelling at open-road speeds down the main street without good reason.
Loyalty towards police is strong in the province, which has suffered its share of troubles from gang tensions, drugs, and false allegations of corruption against officers.
But Detective Senior Sergeant Malcolm Johnston, the head of Gisborne CIB, is seen by some as having betrayed that trust on the morning of November 6 when he was caught driving along Gladstone Rd, the city's busy main thoroughfare, at 95 km/h - 45 km/h over the limit.
Not only was the offence unacceptable, say locals, but Senior Sergeant Johnston's sympathetic treatment by his superiors after the incident has angered many.
The $510 fine was initially waived by Eastern District commander Superintendent Pat Moore after Senior Sergeant Johnston explained that he was responding to a homicide in Wairoa.
When it was discovered that he had been speeding the day after the homicide, he said he had been mistaken, and was on his way to a briefing about the killing. The fine was waived again, but the country's acting police chief, Assistant Commissioner Paul Fitzharris, ordered this week that the ticket be reissued.
Graeme Collier, a retailer who has lived in Gisborne for 32 years, said Senior Sergeant Johnston's offence was disappointing. "Obviously the facts are different to what he originally stated, which is not great as far as a policeman is concerned."
Mr Collier said the Gisborne public supported the police, "because they do a great job here. We've had a lot of issues here for a small provincial town. But there is no way you can do 95km/h through the main street of this city without a strong motive."
In July 1997, five Gisborne officers were arrested after allegations that they gave Mongrel Mob informants drugs in exchange for information.
The case, later described as fatally flawed by an independent reviewer, was thrown out when it got to court. Former Police Commissioner Peter Doone publicly apologised to the men, who later won $200,000 compensation.
Gisborne man John Morrow, who owns a menswear store on Gladstone Rd, remembers the case and said police generally did "a damn good job."
"I'm sympathetic [to Senior Sergeant Johnston], quite frankly. Maybe I'm too much of a local."
But Steve Lafferty, visiting Gisborne from Auckland, disagreed. "Like any business person, if you're late for a briefing and you get clocked, you're accountable. It wasn't a life-or-death situation."
Senior Sergeant Johnston, who is on leave this week and had been helping supervise a school camp, told the Weekend Herald that he stood by his decision that haste was required.
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