(Open Letter to the Ombudsmen)
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing to ask if you could kindly investigate and review the
failure of the New Zealand Police to reply within 20 working days after
the date on which I assume that they received my request
for Official Information (copy enclosed). My request was sent to
the Minister of Police on 17 August 2009, and she passed it on to the
New Zealand Police.
There is an equally important issue in connection with this request
which I would like to bring to your attention: I was telephoned by some
male (whose name I did not take note of) who claimed to be from the
Police and went into detail, enquiring exactly what statistics I wanted,
given the particular ways that Police statistics are collected. During
that telephone call, he used as an example the scenario of the Police
coming to my house on a domestic violence
matter and finding some cannabis there. The ostensible reason for his
mentioning that scenario was the issue that the Police would classify
that as a domestic violence event, even if any arrest was actually on
a cannabis matter.
I assert that his reference to a scenario of the Police coming to my
house was unnecessary, deliberate, and an attempt to intimidate me.
I have experienced harassment for my political
views by Police Headquarters staff when working for a different organisation
in the Police Headquarters building, and I have had a false charge of
obstruction laid against me by Police when they were illegally in my
house and took objection to a political remark which I had made. Therefore,
I have reason to believe that politically motivated intimidation is
something that the Police are perfectly capable of.
I do not know of any specific jurisdiction which you have in the matter
of the intimidation of people making requests for information, but
it seems to me that you must be interested if attempts are made to pervert
the operation of the Official Information Act, which you administer.
Yours sincerely,
Peter D. Zohrab
(Prior letter to Minister of Police)
Dear Judith Collins,
The Police webpage:
http://www.police.govt.nz/resources/2008/aust-family-violence-policy-2008/AAFV_Strategy_Print_Proof_Nov_08.pdf
(last accessed on 17 August 2009) is entitled "Prevention and
Reduction of Family Violence, November 2008: an Australasian Policing
Strategy." It states:
"Family violence is a gendered issue. That is, men are predominantly
the perpetrators, whilst women and children are predominantly the
victims. This finding has been established through extensive research
on the issue, and figures supporting these findings are duly reflected
in the statistics recorded."
That is a lie. Not only is it a lie, but it is also defamatory towards
men, discriminatory against men, and a breach of the Government's fiduciary
duty towards its male citizens not to wage a Lesbian-inspired war on
them. I refer you to Professor Fiebert's annotated bibliography of Family
Violence research at http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm.
Under the Official Information Act, could you please send me a copy
of the most recent document which proves that more men than women are
actually arrested for Family Violence in New Zealand. My understanding
is that such figures are not actually collected. If you do have figures
to prove that, then the Government is in breach of the law for not making
sure that the same proportion of women and men are arrested for Family
Violence as the reasearch proves actually commits it – i.e. the
numbers of women and men arrested should be roughly equal. The Government
also lays itself open to the charge that it increases the level of Family
Violence by refusing to address female violence and giving men no support
against violent females. I note that the level of Family Violence has
been rising, because of Governmnet policies.
Yours sincerely,
Peter D. Zohrab
