(Open Letter to the Police Association National President -- slightly edited)

Dear Mr. O'Connor,

When I heard you speak about older, unfit police officers being forced out of the Force, it immediately occurred to me that this would probably alter the male-female balance in the Force, since a greater proportion of older police is probably male than is the case with younger police officers. In fact, I assume that this might well be one of the reasons for the change in policy.

I am a Men's Rights activist and have taken a lot of interest in police recruiting policy over the years. See: ispolice.html . I am not against women being in the police, as long as they have to meet the same standards as men to get in and to stay in.

The Human Rights point is that female entrants have lower physical standards to meet than males for entry into the police, which is discriminatory, and forcing men out of the Force for not meeting the higher standards -- while women only have to meet the lower standards -- oppresses men even more.

The Public also have a right to have physically competent police to look after them, rather than police who are chosen and retained to fulfill some sexist, discriminatory political agenda.

I have a Law degree (although I have not practised) and I understand that the Human Rights Commission did a wangle so that the oppression of men who want to become police officers appeared to comply with the letter of the Human Rights law -- although not with the spirit. However, Human Rights law is usually interpreted in a purposive, rather than in a literal way, as far as I am aware.

If you have never had a test case on the double standards in male and female recruitment and retention, then I suggest that you urgently find some man or men who has/have been refused entry and/or who is/are being kicked out and make that into a test case. I recommend the lawyer Tony Ellis http://www.tonyellis.co.nz/contact.html

Regards,

Peter Zohrab

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