RESULT OF SLIPSHOD LEGISLATION.
IMPERSONATING A POLICEMAN NOT AN OFFENCE.
[Per Press Association.] CHRISTCHURCH, August 11. At the Police Court to-day, George Devlin and William Betteridge were charged with being rogues and vagabonds, having been found at nightAhsguised, with felonious intent. The accused were the two men who were alleged to have obtained money from persons- by personating constables. . - Mr. Donnelly, for the accused, said that the Criminal Code Act had abolished the common law offence of impersonating a policeman, and no provision had been made to make it one. The offence of imitating a volunteer s uniform was provided for by statute, but it was not an offence to masquerade. as a policeman. , There Avas no provision making it compulsory for a man 6° to the assistance of .a constable. It was a common law offence in England, hut not in New Zealand. Our legislators in their wisdom, or haste, had not provided fojj the offence. His contention was. sound, he thought. Sub-Inspector McGrath: Quite right. Mr. Donnelly continued, saying that the police should make representations to have an amendment Act passed to protect the police in these cases. The charges wore dismissed.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/GIST19090812.2.23.14
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2578, 12 August 1909, Page 5
Word count
Tapeke kupu
194RESULT OF SLIPSHOD LEGISLATION. Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2578, 12 August 1909, Page 5
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
The Gisborne Herald Company is the copyright owner for the Gisborne Times. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of the Gisborne Herald Company. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in