A Western Bay policeman has taken the unusual step of criticising a judge's decision after two Katikati brothers were released from prison to attend a funeral.
The brothers have now been on the run for more than two weeks.
Mark Anthony Harris, 33, an orchard worker, and Richard John Harris, 31, forestry worker, had been arrested and charged after a three-hour car chase across the Bay of Plenty and Waikato in October.
The pair were remanded in custody but given temporary bail by a judge on November 17 on the condition they returned to Waikeria Prison on November 20.
When they failed to return, the prison notified Hamilton police but a misunderstanding meant nothing was done to find them.
Police began searching for the men after Bay of Plenty Times inquiries revealed that normal police procedures were not followed.
But Police Association Bay of Plenty and Waikato regional director Mel Ridley said it was unfair police were being blamed when the pair should not have been granted bail in the first place.
"The mistake needs to be put into perspective," he said.
"It's a misunderstanding, I assume, by a relatively junior police officer, and it hasn't caused any exacerbation to the problem which already existed when these two failed to return to prison. They'd already gone.
"Considering the great lengths we had to go to to apprehend them and the raft of charges they're facing, it's hardly a surprise that they chose not to return to prison.
"The original police opposition to bail was right and if they were released they should have been in the company of a prison official so they weren't in a position to abscond."
Mr Ridley said police weren't the ones that really were responsible for the brothers absconding.
"I can't remember the last time I heard of somebody being bailed when they were remanded in custody. To get bail after you've already been denied bail, it seems a bit strange."
Police were struggling with the backlash of alleged offenders who breached bail, failed to turn up in court or reoffended after being granted leniency by the courts, Mr Ridley said.
"[Police are] like a sheep dog that's run out of puff. You're forever trying to chase the baddies and sometimes it just seems unnecessary."
Mr Ridley said he believed with the introduction of electronic monitoring, which allows offenders to serve sentences from home instead of prison, bail applications and breaches by offenders were going to become more common.
"Time will tell whether it works or not but I can tell you now it won't."
Mr Ridley said judges needed to be held accountable for their decisions.
"I believe that some of them, particularly inexperienced judges, are almost intimidated or pressured by experienced defence lawyers into granting bail."
Both the Department of Corrections and the Ministry of Justice refused to comment on the judge's decision. The pair are charged with theft, unlawfully taking and getting into a motor vehicle, aggravated assault on police, failing to stop and resisting arrest.
Detective Sergeant Lindsay Pilbrow of Tauranga CIB said police were making inquiries to see if they could apply for arrest warrants for the pair.
TOP STORY: Judge under fire for giving bail to pair
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