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| Ross Grantham |
Police officer Ross Grantham's got form, as reported during the trial of Mark Lundy for the murder of his wife and daughter.
ross.grantham@police.govt.nz,
infringements@police.govt.nz,
Independent Police Conduct Authority <Complaint.Management@ipca.govt.nz>,
"MCCORMICK, Stephen" <stephen.mccormick@police.govt.nz>
cc: Te Ringa Mangu Mihaka and Diane Prince,
Tena koutou katoa
Regarding infringement notices PV2529205 and PV2511888 and formal complaint about actions of Police, information requests, as previously discussed.
Infringement notice PV2529205 was issued at Mata at 9:55 pm on Friday 27.05.2016 by officer DBW242, who explained that due to a minor administrative matter which Mr Mihaka was unaware of his drivers license was not considered to be "appropriate" because he hadn't "reinstated" it after a period of disqualification ended. Officer DBW242 rightly and reasonably offered "Compliance" to Mr Mihaka, explaining that if Mr Mihaka reinstated his license within 14 days and provided proof of that to Police within that time (which we did) the $400 fine would be waived.
Mr Mihaka did reinstate his license immediately and advise Police in accordance with the instructions given, and I witnessed it as did one of Mr Mihaka's health care workers. Despite posting a copy of Mr Mihaka's reinstated license to Police Infringement Bureau, P O Box 9147, Wellington 6141, in accordance with the directions on the Notices, Mr Mihaka has recently been informed that the amount of $800 is currently being deducted from his extremely limited income, as well as other deductions arising from Police actions against Mr Mihaka which are the subject of current proceedings in the Human Rights Review Tribunal.
We request that the fines are remitted and the money deducted from Mr Mihaka is returned. It was cruel and inhumane to leave Mr Mihaka all night in his car and it is an insult to justice to add $800 of fines on top of that as well as the over $250 it cost Mr Mihaka to travel home and back to get his car etc.
Mr Mihaka and I are finding it difficult to write letters endlessly to various Police officers about these matters when our correspondence is then lost or ignored, we have very limited resources. I note that our original information requests were lost, now it seems that the copy of the reinstated license has also been lost. Please confirm whether or not Police have access to the information regarding Mr Mihaka's reinstatement of his license - surely Police are able to confirm exactly when Mr Mihaka reinstated his license by way of checking information on their databases and "information sharing" with the relevant agencies, and this should be done automatically before a fine is issued - like many people who have limited incomes and resources we pay taxes and Police have the required technology to do this, there is no reason not to do it, it would surely save on administrative costs, as would not losing our information requests.
Mr Mihaka attended a hapu hui on 28th and 29th May and was returning to his home in Paraparaumu on Monday 30th May, as he had advised the officer at Mata he was going to do, when he was apprehended by officer LHAA94 at 7:25 pm at National Park. Mr Mihaka says that the officer refused to listen to his explanation that he had been unaware of the requirement to "reinstate" his license until alerted to it by the officer at Mata, and that he was on his way straight home to attend to the matter immediately in accordance with the compliance condition agreed with the officer at Mata. He says he was polite and respectful toward both officers, and other officers involved in this incident reported to me that Mr Mihaka had been polite and respectful toward them too, particularly under the circumstances.
Mr Mihaka states that officer LHAA94 displayed clear bias towards him, she was rude, abusive and aggressive and stated "I know that you have a bad habit of beating up on women" and implied that she was going to teach him a lesson for that, regardless of the fact that he's served his time, after he tried to explain that he was on his way straight home after the hapu hui and planned to attend to the matter immediately upon his return home.
Instead of allowing him reasonable time to remedy the "inappropriate" license issue in accordance with the notice issued two days previously, as Mr Mihaka explained he was on his way to do at the earliest opportunity, officer LHAA94 unreasonably decided to an infringement notice denying compliance and fining Mr Mihaka $400. She then apparently called for reinforcements from other officers, and confiscated Mr Mihaka's keys, leaving him stranded on a narrow and dangerous grass verge on a main highway, all night in freezing temperatures, with no working phone and no way of heating his car. This is outrageous and completely unacceptable, it is bullying, it is bias against Mr Mihaka because he is a Maori, and a political activist with a history of asserting his rights against an unjust legal system. Mr Mihaka states that officer LHAA94 was deliberately antagonistic, rude, unreasonable, and inhumane. Mr Mihaka has served his time for any assaults he committed in the past and he continues to feel unjustly discriminated against regarding the clearly flawed conviction secured by the Crown State Police Court and Mr Dickie recently.
When Mr Mihaka was taken for a medical check following his being forced to spend the night in his unheated car with no phone, food, drink, medication, etc, his doctor was concerned enough to write a letter addressed to whom it may concern stating the following:
"This gentleman is seventy four years old and had a number of medical problems.
I am unclear of the recent circumstances surrounding the night he spent on a road in his car near National Park village, but regard it as inappropriate that any person of seventy four years old should, of necessity, sleep in a car on that stretch of road at that time of year."
Which is considerably more than Warren Frederick Dickie's doctor had to say following Mr Dickie's confused, conflicting and unreliable allegations against Mr Mihaka which Police were so quick to act upon!
We previously requested all information Police hold or held regarding this incident at National Park, and have as yet received no information about it whatsoever, we would appreciate it if this was provided without further delay please.
I will forward a copy of the letter from Mr Mihaka's doctor, and another copy of his drivers license if necessary, as soon as I can access the necessary resources to do so - in the meantime, the words above can be verified by Dr Chris Fawcett of Hora Te Pai medical centre in Paraparaumu, the number is in the phone book, I'm sure Hora Te Pai can fax you a copy of the letter if necessary. This is a formal complaint regarding the actions of officer LHAA94, as discussed previously, and a request for all information regarding the incident involving her and Mr Mihaka and other officers at National Park on 30 May 2016 and following the event - Mr Mihaka and I also attempted to show Mr Mihaka's reinstated license to the officer who was in attendance at National Park when we went to collect Mr Mihaka's vehicle a few days later and ask that he verify it or copy it and email or fax it to the Police infringement section as neither Mr Mihaka or I have a copier or a fax machine, we did all we could to provide proof to Police that it had been reinstated promptly in accordance with the compliance offered by the officer in Mata, the officer at National Park refused to even look at Mr Mihaka's license when we collected the car.
There is also the matter of the Disclosure provided recently regarding the allegations of Warren Frederick Dickie, and the fact that there is a deletion of about four lines to the statement of Mr Dickie, the complainant - Mr Mihaka is entitled to an UNREDACTED copy of this statement in accordance with the Criminal Disclosure Act and it is required URGENTLY for proceedings before the Human Rights Review Tribunal. I previously emailed a number of officers about this, it appears they are all on leave or simply not inclined to respond, please provide an unredated copy of the statement of Warren Frederick Dickie without further delay or I will apply for a Court Order for it.
Please provide all information regarding communication between Constable Michael Tahere and Housing New Zealand Corporation about Mr Mihaka, whether written down or otherwise recorded or not.
Katherine Raue
Maori Agent for Te Ringa Mangu Mihaka
______________________________________
25 July 2016
Good morning Katherine,
I write to confirm I have received this message from you and that I am forwarding it to Senior Sergeant Lance Kennedy, Central District Professional Conduct lead for him to record your complaints and ensure they are followed up.
I cannot comment on the requests you have made I I did not receive them personally but I am sure Lance or his investigator will be in touch seeking all the details so that this can be investigated appropriately.
Lance for your attention please.
Ross Grantham
Deployment Manager
Central District
______________________________________
4 October 2016
Tena koe Sgt Grantham,
We wrote to you some time ago, stating the following (inter alia):
When Mr Mihaka was taken for a medical check following his being forced to spend the night in his unheated car with no phone, food, drink, medication, etc, his doctor was concerned enough to write a letter addressed to whom it may concern stating the following:Your response stated:
"This gentleman is seventy four years old and had a number of medical problems.
I am unclear of the recent circumstances surrounding the night he spent on a road in his car near National Park village, but regard it as inappropriate that any person of seventy four years old should, of necessity, sleep in a car on that stretch of road at that time of year."
Which is considerably more than Warren Frederick Dickie's doctor had to say following Mr Dickie's confused, conflicting and unreliable allegations against Mr Mihaka which Police were so quick to act upon!
We previously requested all information Police hold or held regarding this incident at National Park, and have as yet received no information about it whatsoever, we would appreciate it if this was provided without further delay please."
"Good morning Katherine,
I write to confirm I have received this message from you and that I am forwarding it to Senior Sergeant Lance Kennedy, Central District Professional Conduct lead for him to record your complaints and ensure they are followed up.
I cannot comment on the requests you have made I I did not receive them personally but I am sure Lance or his investigator will be in touch seeking all the details so that this can be investigated appropriately.
Lance for your attention please.
Ross
Ross Grantham
Deployment Manager
Central District"
We are writing today to inform you that neither Mr Mihaka or I have never heard from Lance. We consider this to be totally and utterly unacceptable.
We insist that these complaints are escalated without delay and a competent senior officer engage in meaningful communication regarding these matters without further delay as it is clear that Police is a deeply dysfunctional organisation with no effective oversight.
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Aroha mai - I omitted to include the 'Independent' Police Conduct Authority in the greeting which began my previous email, and note that most of the matters in our original complaint have not been addressed - some three months later.
Not only haven't we heard from Lance but we haven't received much of the information we requested including all information regarding communications between Constable Michael Tahere (and any other Police) and Housing New Zealand Corporation.
In short, our complaints have been mainly ignored and we wish to escalate them, and we insist that the so called Independent Police Conduct Authority starts to actually act with independence and some degree of speed, and address these complaints properly and independently.
Katherine Raue
for Te Ringa Mangu Mihaka
________________________________________
I am not sure why you have included me in this email, but I am unable to respond to any of your comments/ requests as they are not directed at any matter dealt with at Porirua Station.
Any matter regarding your Official Information Requests should be directed to Wellington.OIA@police.govt.nz
Steve McCormick
Station Sergeant : Kapiti-Mana
Phone Ext 45038 DDI 04 2381438
______________________________________
Sgt McCormick - you have been included because these matters DO involve you - YOU are the subject of our formal complaints! As are the staff you command, including those officers involved in the so called investigation of Warren Frederick Dickie's complaints and the prosecution of Mr Mihaka - despite the FACT that Warren Frederick Dickie's statement to Police is utterly and completely contradicted by his sworn evidence and the FACT that Mr Mihaka was never provided with Disclosure by your prosecutor - despite the LIES of one of your other officers who claims that he was!!!
YOU "lost" the information request and have failed to provide any sort of reasonable explanation or proper apology for LOSING the request, and failed to address our complaints, or forward them to the appropriate person, serious complaints which were conveyed to you IN PERSON!
Not to mention the FACT that Housing New Zealand Corporation continues to claim that Police told them Mr Mihaka lives in a suspected P house and smokes methamphetamine while Police continue to FAIL to provide all information regarding the communication between Constable Michael TAHERE and HNZC - by officers from your station apparently - if you don't want to deal with this then FORWARD THESE COMPLAINTS TO SOMEONE WHO WILL WITHOUT DELAY!
Your response is unbelievable - it is extremely offensive and adds insult to injury!!!
______________________________________
Good afternoon Katherine,
Do you have a phone number I can call you on please?
Ross
______________________________________
Alternatively you can either ring me or text me 021 1920 434 and I can call you back to save costs.
Ross
______________________________________
5 October 2016
Good afternoon Katherine,
I messaged you yesterday asking for a phone number or for you to text me and I haven’t heard back.
I want to apologise in person because the message I sent to you on 25 July said I had forwarded your queries to Professional Standards Lance Kennedy. In fact I had failed to enter his name in the email address, so he did not receive it.
As I had sent it back to you I failed to realise my mistake and thought he was working on your request. When I received your messages yesterday I immediately spoke with Lance asking him what he had done and he advised he had not received the original message and I checked back to discover my mistake.
He now has your complaint and has already contacted the IPCA to work through it.
I apologise for my mistake. As I say I do want to apologise in person so if you can send me a contact number I will call you.
Thanks you Ross
______________________________________
Good afternoon Katherine,
I messaged you yesterday asking for a phone number or for you to text me and I haven’t heard back.
I want to apologise in person because the message I sent to you on 25 July said I had forwarded your queries to Professional Standards Lance Kennedy. In fact I had failed to enter his name in the email address, so he did not receive it.
As I had sent it back to you I failed to realise my mistake and thought he was working on your request. When I received your messages yesterday I immediately spoke with Lance asking him what he had done and he advised he had not received the original message and I checked back to discover my mistake.
He now has your complaint and has already contacted the IPCA to work through it.
I apologise for my mistake. As I say I do want to apologise in person so if you can send me a contact number I will call you.
Thanks you Ross
______________________________________
Hi Katherine, would you mind sending me your contact phone number please.
Ross
______________________________________
Tena koe Ross,
I will NOT be providing you with my phone number because I am not interested in engaging in nebulous verbal dialogue regarding these matters especially after the way in which our correspondence has been dealt with - or NOT dealt with to date.
Due to the unacceptable and ongoing problems with communication to date, and indisputable evidence of incompetence, dishonesty, prejudice and bias by Police, we will only engage in WRITTEN communication with Police regarding these matters.
This is a formal complaint regarding your refusal to deal with these matters professionally, refusal to engage in meaningful communication, and failure to pass on our complaints - on top of all the other incompetence and dishonesty and prejudice and bias associated with these matters!
This is a formal complaint regarding the LIES about emailing Mr Mihaka the Disclosure - we have double checked Mr Mihaka's email account and can assure you that Disclosure was NOT emailed to him - and the office who claims that it was is a LIAR! Police's actions in blacking out the last four lines of Dickie's statement are clear evidence of collusion with HNZC to pervert the course of justice!
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