Ex cop’s social media pages an ongoing embarrassment for police
Former policeman Chris Yates has built popular social media accounts mocking politicians, police administration, gay people and youth offenders – and his growing following appears rife with members of the NZ Police. Sam Olley investigates this enduring PR headache for the police and talks to the man behind the memes.
It’s “gay” to be a firefighter, says one meme.
Another celebrates the idea of criminals dying in prison.
Facebook posts call the Ministry of Justice staff “soft c**ks” and claim defence lawyers smell like “b*tch”.
Comments call former Police Minister Poto Williams an “overpaid under-qualified parasite” and former Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern “the tart at the top”.
And politicians aren’t the only named targets. Another status tells a journalist reporting on police shootings to “eat a bag of d**ks”.
This is what you’ll find on Blue Line Banter, social media pages designed to engage and amuse followers, who include members of the New Zealand Police. The accounts are far from official, and they are also laced with posts telling people to “go f*** themselves” if they report the posts to Police National Headquarters (PNHQ), which clearly some have done.
That so many current serving members of the NZ Police force are openly commenting on appalling content and are so openly identifiable is alarming and an enormous security issue.
Sophisticated Organised Crime would see it as an open recruitment tool.
The new Hard Right Government want to ramp Police Powers up, if 300 current members of the Police are part of a secret club that jokes about hateful content like this, where is the check and balance to abuse of power?
This is evidence of a fascist thug police culture in New Zealand right when they are about to gain vastly more power.
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Police are no different from the rest of us- The good, bad and the ugly.
jack the snack, they’re are very different from the rest of us because they have the right arbitrarily to take our freedoms away or make life difficult sanctioned by the state. This is the attitude and culture that has been in our NZPF since their beginning.
They’re stooges for the Crown.
More ugly than good frankly.
Thanks for the tip Martyn!
I’m now following https://www.facebook.com/BLBNZ
LOL
Of course you would.
They’re not wrong about Poto.
Yep! You read my mind.
Poto probably wasnt a good fit for police. The cops need someone who isnt going to show weakness. Poto and Ginny made the mistake of doing that.
She wasn’t much good for anything, nor Dalziel before her, and probably not this next guy. This is what I get living in a die hard Labour electorate.
If I was employed as an officer to serve and protect I would not be posting on these sites.
Jody – 100% Correct
Jody Nor would I stand idly by when transgender extremists silence, terrorise, and bash women like the Auckland police did that shameful day at Albert Park. If the Auckland police officers were acting on orders from Wellington, then the IPCA, must clarify this. Women deserve to know why they are given lower priority than transgender persons by the NZ Police, and the rationale for their medieval misogyny.
Transgender people deserve to LIVE THEIR LIVES IN PEACE without some stuck up Karen telling them how to live. Which is what you want to do. Why dont you piss off back to the 1950’s where LGBT’s got put in prison. Fucking prude. We all know you want to ban anything sexual. Becauee you are fucking stuck up godbothering bible basher.
There is a difference between living your life in peace & insisting that your view is the only thinking allowed on any topic. Most people seem to be happy that feelings are more important than physical evidence regarding social policy but they would not put up with their builder or mechanic telling them that their house & vehicle feel good without a roof or wheels so there is obviously a limit to what people consider acceptable.
The NZ Police never want their officers wearing body cameras I wonder why?
Better than the gangs running the place
So you think cops should be able to just beat people up and tazer them when and as they liked? Good to know.
By the way, half the cops are in cahoots with the gangs.
The plods are very different from the rest of us–they have the power to deprive citizens of their liberty and inflict lethal force–i.e. lock you up, beat you up, pepper spray, baton, and taser you, and ultimately kill you…
NZ Police have long had a macho, racist, sexist and supremely violent culture. Despite the efforts of some more “new age” coppers in management, this has essentially never significantly changed. These fuckers are paid by us taxpayers and should be totally accountable in all respects.
the basic issue is policing attracts those of an authoritarian mindset….that’s why they used to be vetted and trained,,,both in conflict resolutaion/de-escalation and the actual law…not just sticking a body in a blue boiler suit and calling itj ob done
Yeah, exactly. The corruption of NZ police has been well documented since the 1970’s. Nothing has changed from the looks of it. And its going to get worse with Mitchell is in charge. Expect him to fully import US style policing into this country.
Fuck the Police!
To be fair, The’re not wrong about Poto.
Should rename it The Sty!
Perhaps there need to be a rival Red Line BS Ranter to draw out the pus and make it less putrid.
It’s a horror to get this back door John Malkovich view of what goes on in the heads of people who are supposed to have good traits that we can feel comfortable with and look up to. People who swear foully as a default position have bad standards and lack of control of their minds. If police are open about this then I think we have the force showing as a bunch of emerging scumbags. We won’t be able to say with certainty ‘ Let the Force be with you’ because they will dirty you just by looking at you.
A UK police tv series which went 2012-2021 Line of Duty is pretty hard to watch and I wonder if watching hard-hitting shows like this actually tend to embed any behaviour that they are illustrating till it becomes accepted and normalised; ‘I seen it on tv sort of affirmation.’
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/line-of-duty
I knew they had groups like this on facebook. I didnt think they had it in them to have it open to the public.
Having cops like these is bad for civil liberties.
Bring back the minto bar, all went down hill since then
I expect Mark Mitchell will conveniently look the other way as more of this comes to light. Its a perfect fit for the incoming junta to enforce their will on all of us who didn’t vote for them or the effect of their polices.
The comments on these sites are probably dominated by the musings of knuckle dragging types. In other words, way too intellectual for Mark Mitchell
While we remain brainlessly careless with our democracy the police we think we pay for via taxes to protect and serve us are merely hand jobs to the rich and powerful and with that we must remember the riche now being neuveau are without class or conscience, so what will happen then, is that policing the poor will become a blood sport like one sided power slapping. https://youtu.be/GdfED3z9R-Q?si=uLFD5JCr8E5n_7jv
What the mindless masses have just done to the rest of us is to vote in a real-life *’Idiocracy’ protected by a muscle bound clique of uniformed fascist sadists , that we must pay for. I like irony but that’s ridiculous.
* National-Act-Nz first voters? You voted for this, dumbasses. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/
You listened to a deodorant salesman, a mystery sociopathic narcissist and a lawyer then you voted for them, and now you got them. Congratulations.
Much better off than under the last lot,the worst Government in our history.
I notice that you mention there may be up to 300 members of this “blue line banter” FB group. I wonder what the overwhelming majority of cops think about these individuals masquerading as “decent” police officers. I know several who would be absolutely appalled by this. It undoes all the effort they put into doing their job as professionally as possible. Secondly, what, if any, is the reaction of senior officers?
The number maye rong wright, hundred odd, police, under paid suspend of their power abuse today.