October 16, 2008

Policewoman resigns over private prosecution

By David Clarkson

A woman police officer has resigned from the force after being privately charged with assault and trespass arising from an arrest she made.

She is a mother, aged in her 30s,?who has been in the police for several years.

The woman was granted name suppression when she appeared in the Christchurch District Court today.

Defence counsel assigned by the Police Association, Steve Hembrow, told Judge David Holderness that the woman had been a serving police officer at the time of the alleged incident, but had since resigned.

?There is no public interest in her name being published at this point,? he said, and Judge Holderness granted the order.

The prosecution has been brought by a friend of a man she arrested at what began as a traffic stop where the discussion and dispute took place in a person?s driveway.

The prosecution is seeking police disclosure of a series of documents including the notebooks of the officer and her partner, her senior sergeant?s notes, cell records, and the names of at least one officer they wish to call as a witness.

The judge said he had no jurisdiction to order a defendant to make documents available through discovery.

The application will have to be made directly to the police.

Judge Holderness remanded the woman for a status hearing ? which usually precedes a trial before a judge-alone ? on December 2.