police/media letter - update 5/8/07 published

[Shadow Sol]

ok guys here some people feel the rape comment may be to harsh so here are 3 options

"People can Say what they like about police officers – They’re just a revenue collection agency - I went down town the other night and I didn’t see any police officers out there checking up on this out of control teen party, where were they? They were somewhere else, issuing tickets for noisy exhaust."

"People can Say what they like about police officers – They’re just a bunch of donut disposal units - I went down town the other night and I didn’t see any police officers out there doing their jobs, where were they? They were somewhere else, down the station eating donuts."

"People can Say what they like about police officers - they all pack rape women - I went down town the other night and I didn’t see any police officers out there doing their jobs, where were they? They were somewhere else, and they would've been raping another woman."


and heres the final draft of the letter before i send it out to several media sources and the police force - it will be sent tomorrow

Boy Racer Issue: Enough is enough


To Whom It May Concern,
I am writing to you on behalf of a large number of car enthusiasts from all over the country in regard to comments made by the police officers in the Waikato Times article, 'Police Split on House Trashing Blame', published on the 18th of July.
First of all I would like to say thank you to Senior Sergeant Pete Whittaker for displaying that not all of New Zealand’s officers are narrow minded or lacking in the ability to apply common sense to a situation – we obviously need more officers like him on the beat.
Secondly I’m sorry to say that I was most disappointed in the approach taken by Sergeant Jim Casson, how narrow minded is this man? The attitudes of officers like him lead to the misrepresentation of a large number of law abiding car enthusiast’s nation wide.
Here is Jim Casson’s Quote from the article:

"People can say as much as they like - it was boy racers that were there . . . I drove down Te Rapa Straight at midnight (Friday) and no boy racers were there. Where were they? They were somewhere else and it would have been Woodridge."

This quote was made in regard to some damaged property in a new sub division in Hamilton that was the venue for an open teen party involving underage drinking on a large scale – no cars were involved.

How would the Police force feel if the following was instead printed in the paper as a quote from one of us?

"People can Say what they like about police officers - they all pack rape women - I went down town the other night and I didn’t see any police officers out there doing their jobs, where were they? They were somewhere else, and they would've been raping another woman."

I know this to be a harsh and untrue statement but its not very nice being stereotyped for things you don’t do is it?

As a whole, the young car-enthusiast community in NZ is very diverse and generally well behaved. There are a large number of car clubs operating throughout the country constantly struggling with this “boy racer” stigma that is all too easily flung about by Police and the media alike.
I myself am a member of two Clubs; Team FBI and NZHondas.com. Both of these clubs have rules in place to ban any members found to be involved in street racing, dangerous driving or any other activities that perpetuate this negative image.
The clubs Advertise as well as organize legal motor sport events at venues such as Championship Drag way in Meremere, and Taupo Motorsport Park to name a few. These have a strong following with entries for NZHondas' forthcoming track day in Taupo filling up within 4 days. Aside from racing we also have regular meets for activities ranging from paint ball, to Dyno Days and appear as a club in car shows such as Auto Salon or the 4&Rotary Nationals each year.
A lot of us Work very hard to build our own project cars and enjoy driving them. What we don’t enjoy is being unjustly accused of crimes we haven’t committed or being stereotyped as some kind of law-breaking low lives. I recently ended my apprenticeship becoming a qualified mechanic after 3 years, I never would’ve started down this path if it wasn’t for my interest in cars, yet with the image that is being portrayed of us all over the media it’s like I never should’ve bothered. In the eyes of some of the media and some of New Zealand’s police officers, all I’ll be seen as is some little thug with his hat on backwards driving round causing trouble.

The article states that the Police force identified that a large party occurred with reportedly 500 teens drinking of which some were underage. This then got out of control and lead to the reported disorder and vandalism. The logic then used by Sergeant Casson to lay the blame at the feet of "boy racers" was speculation and tenuous at best, slanderous at worst. How the general public is ever going to look at young car enthusiasts with anything other than distrust and anger is beyond me when “boy racers” are once again blamed for something that's most likely nothing to do with them.

If the public looked at themselves and realized that it’s their underage kids that are out their partying and drinking without any supervision and the police didn’t arrive to shut the party down before it got out of control maybe these problems wouldn’t happen in the first place. The issue here is one of poor parenting, years of inadequate policing and a complete lack of back-up from our justice system. This has bred an anti-social youth element that thumbs its nose at convention and authority and chooses to express itself in a violent and destructive manner. That SOME of these youths choose to drive stereotypical "boy racer" cars is incidental, not causal, yet your Police force is still spouts opinions that are reported by the media that demonizes all young car enthusiasts.

We realize that a minority is to blame for giving us a bad name, but there are bad eggs in every community. It’s just that whenever a young person gets behind the wheel and does something stupid it’s immediately held over all young car enthusiasts like we made them do it. The Police force should be treating each person as an individual and stop blaming a group of law-abiding young people, with an automotive interest, for the few that cause trouble. We’ve had enough and just want a fair and even chance to enjoy our cars in a safe way, within the bounds of the law.

Thank you for your time
Darrin Smith


gumble@xtra.co.nz

[broken_ITR]

Awesome! I want to see that splashed across a newspaper somewhere. They need to see that its cruelly unfair to judge us enthusiasts in such a negative light.

[VTAKYO]

Send it to some newspapers, newsgroups, and TV groups - saying "this letter has been sent on behalf of the car enthusiast community to the group who the public views as being the remedy to the apparent 'boyracer' issue. We eagerly await their reply, and we feel that you as the media should make the public aware of these happenings." Something like that. I'll have a read of the letter soon, lol...

[NAspirated]

you need to proof read. there are several grammatical errors and spelling mistakes.

I voted for the Rape comment based solely on the fact that your efforts will go nowhere.

Donuts: cops dont care,
Revenue: heard it all before
Rape: acquitted, so dont care.

the biggest problem here is the police dont actually give a shit about us, its society that has the problem. The cops are only the Yes men doing what policy tells them. and who makes policy? We do. the people you need to get through to are your parents, my parents, your grandparents etc etc.


really, its a waste of time. no matter what we do for the community, discouraging reckless and dangerous driving through trackdays and putting on law abiding shows, the public do not and never will give a shit. The media are the same. they know what your parents want to see, and they'll provide it with as much "shock and awe" as possible. 99% of the population dont give a shit about cars, police policy reflects that.


I dont even think this letter would be noticed if you pasted all the beehive windows with it. Nobody of any "importance" (and i use that word very very loosely) will be willing to do anything for our situation. Its political suicide.

Some of the laws aimed at the Automotive Industry that will coming into effect in the next few years are directly aimed at getting people out of their cars and from the Govt's perspective, the more the better. They refuse to spend any real money on roading infrastructure, the roading policing system is a joke at its best, and you want someone to care about the enthusiasts?

Society's opinion of our police force is at the lowest it has ever been thanks to scandals of late, but they'd still side with them over us.

Good luck to you sir, with whatever you go with.

[Shadow Sol]

i think its better to state a case than it is to be convicted without any defence - im aware that one letter isnt going to change things over night but at least its better than sitting at home doing nothing

[Colza]

I vote donuts as if you go too far out on a limb you will get ignored on principle. If you take it too far they will decide you arent worth listening to and will ignore the entire letter. The donuts comment makes the point about stereotyping without going so far as to actually cause any insult or be offensive.

[DrRubber]

but the rape makes people think about a recent event that regardless of their guilt, would make the public realise that its not nice to be put into a group and labled........

hey they were no middle eastern people up town that night either....they must have been off planning a terror plot

would also be another good example (use both)

i voted rape 8)

[[QUIKdc2]]

Rape - The truth hurts.

Im considering selling up and moving on because of this shit, they even had me pulled over in tokoroa on Friday morning for over 10 minutes looking for something wrong! Unacceptable

[Colza]

Being angry and unreasonable doesnt get half as much attention as being angry but still calm and sensible

[VTAKYO]

I've send you an edited copy via PM. It would be preferred if you didn't mention NZHondas.

Thanks

[pxpx]

You need to use the noisey exhaust one as that is in context with the rest of the letter. If you use the rape sentence you can forget about mentioning NZH in the letter

Otherwise it's a pretty good letter with lots of good points made. Just make sure it's clear that you are a member of NZHondas, rather than a representative.

[Baxter]

I'd use the rape analogy for its impact and (hopefully) obvious absurdness than all cops are rapists.

But you need to make your point "I know this to be a harsh and untrue statement but its not very nice being stereotyped for things you don’t do is it" exceptionally clear and earlier in the piece, or most readers will just think it's some raving loonie and stop reading before they get it.

Also, your letter is about 3 or 4 times longer than most people would read. I'd edit it down somewhat.


As above, I probably wouldn't mention which clubs I'm a member of at all, as this is often wrongly viewed as endorsement by some readers.
Though offering some clubs as examples is a good idea, as many readers will be surprised to find that some groups they'd view as 'boyracers' don't condone speeding, and indeed usually flame people for excessive speeding in public.


PS - Just be very careful when dealing with media - all they want to do is sell papers/ads. If they can twist your words to boost ratings they will, even if that involves misrepresenting you and/or making you look like a dick.

An excellent example is the professor who recently said poor people shouldn't breed as it makes society dumber. He made the comment sarcastically to an interviewer, but was misrepresented to create a controversial headline.

[crx_bob]

I think the hard hitting approch, becuase the chances are only one person (at each place you send it to) will read it but at least if you can get a shock reaction it might get shown to a few more people.
I assume that the idea behind it is to get people thinking about the persecution that is happening and hopefuly get enough people to know so that ideas change.
I wouldn't put reference to either club in name just reference to Clubs in general stating that the opinion voiced is one of many car enthuasists, just incase there is fallout due to media twist.

[DrRubber]

yea I have to agree, whilst its obvious NZH dosnt want mention, I reckon the best approach is just to put that you are member of more than one car club (that shall remain unnamed) and thatthey have anti streetrace policys and regular meetings/trackdays etc.......

I hope a real outcome arises from it all

[Matty]

Something else you must be wary of is not sending in a letter that can be abridged by a sub-editor to twist the meaning.

[Nicolla]

Originally Posted by Matty

Something else you must be wary of is not sending in a letter that can be abridged by a sub-editor to twist the meaning.

Yup you can never trust the media with your words, I've had mine twisted before to come out as something completly different. Resulting in me ah...verbally abusing the editor till I got a retraction. But it was too late damage had been done.

As for the rape thing, it may be a little over the top..

[MMJA]

I reckon the rape thing is ok as long as you make it very very clear that you are using it as an example to show how much damage stereotyping a group is. Make sure the rape statement doesn't stand on it's own otherwise they can very easily twist it into making it sound like we are just sore and randomly bashing cops.

[Shadow Sol]

sent today - to the mods that were concerned i removed the clubs name so you can all rest easy

[pxpx]

Thanks dude! I'm sure you'll let us know when you get a response.

[xsiv]

good on use, im so glad this is going ahead.

[DrRubber]

Originally Posted by Shadow Sol

sent today - to the mods that were concerned i removed the clubs name so you can all rest easy

Who did you send it to ??? ther police ??? send it to every paper within 100km's of you as well.......

[PIGGKILLA]

Cool! Your the man "SHADOWSOL", Hope it works out all good

I'm with you all the way dude!!!

[Shadow Sol]

sent to:
waikato times, northern advocate, dominion post, NZPC and the police complaints board

[DrRubber]

Originally Posted by Shadow Sol

sent to:
waikato times, northern advocate, dominion post, NZPC and the police complaints board

good lad :thumbsup:

[M3_Power]

Whilst I agree whole heartedly with the good intent behind the letter ... I have to say, with respect, that I find aspects of it contradictory and most part wordy and overly emotional.

I for one had no issues with the officer making a generalised claim that the damages to those properties were caused by "boy racers".

Let me clarify ...

Firstly, you seem to use the term car enthusiasts and boy racers almost interchangeably. I would have used the terms so that they were mutually exclusive. Ever since the inception of the term boy racers by the media, the term has been thrown around to describe every single young person with a modified vehicle (be it JDM or Euro). This stereotyping and generalisation has worked well and has at best "confused" the general Joe Blog Public that everyone in a modified ride is equally a boy racer at heart whether the activities carried out were in fact "boy racer-ish". To agree with the officer's claim that the damage was caused by "boy racers" would in fact draw a greater distinction with the general car enthusiast community (that is to say that boy racers engage in anti social activities that are and should be frowned upon by the car enthusiasts).

To write a letter claiming to be on behalf of the car enthusiast community that are somehow affected by the terminology used by the officer is merely agreeing with him that all car enthusiasts are boy racers at heart. It fails to distinguish an activity, personality, or characterisation that should be exclusively reserved for real boy racers.

Secondly, you weren't at the scene. To make a claim that the damage weren't in fact caused by young persons in "hotted" up cars isn't going to get you anywhere. You are merely making assumptions. If you want a letter to have real affect, get hard evidence that the idiots at that party weren't driving "hotted" up cars engaging in boy racer activities.

Lastly making generalised attacks on the police fails to argue the point that the damage weren't caused by boy racers. To me you'd simply be lowering yor own standards to that of the original maker of the statement.

In my opinoin you'd have gotten further by trying to educate the Joe Blogs of this world that boy racer is a personality, activity or characterisation that "ANY PERSON" can be seen to be engaging in and not just those with a hotted up car.