20 July 2006

New Zealand in the news

BerlinBear avatarWell, news from New Zealand has made the BBC News website once again, and as usual it's an odd and faintly embarrassing story. It seems that's the only way we ever break international headlines.

In any case, it turns out that a police officer in Auckland was working a second job to tide her over some financial difficulties. That's not the problem, as secondary work is allowed in the New Zealand Police service, subject to approval. The problem is that this particular officer's secondary job was ... as a prostitute. This, according to a police spokesperson, is "inappropriate and incompatible with policing."

Fair enough, I suppose, except that prostitution is legal in New Zealand. So it's not like she was moonlighting as a drug dealer or a hit-woman. However, she has been allowed to keep her job as a police officer all the same, which is a good thing if you ask me.

What I would be really very interested to know, is how this came to light. You can bet she didn't just randomly bring it up in a promotion interview, right? So, which of her superior officers accidentally found himself one of her customers? And how appropriate and compatible with policing is that?

Full story here [BBC] and here [Stuff.co.nz].

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