Police stand a cop-out

The eloquent explanation offered by Police Commissioner Andrew Coster regarding police allowing iwi checkpoints is in my view economical with the truth. (Why police used discretion in permitting iwi checkpoints) , May 5).

He comments that police actively discouraged the first community-led checkpoints. There was no evidence of this, and on the contrary checkpoints were observed with patched gang members. Some essential workers stopped at these checkpoints felt intimidated, yet the police turned a blind eye to this illegal activity. He mentions that communities should be safe and feel safe but being stopped by a gang member on a public road is the opposite of this police policy.

He also comments that police were worried that if they did enforce the removal of community checkpoints that this might then lead to large numbers of people protesting which would have increased the risk to the community. But this premise was never tested and appears to be a cop-out.

He later states that police will not tolerate the establishment of further selfinitiated checkpoints where these have not been previously agreed. In my view he is admitting that police should have acted earlier in removing community checkpoints. He at least acknowledges that the application of discretion is an art not a science, but I believe he needs to be more careful applying discretion in the future.

Alex Gray, Brooklyn