NZ Police try to kill right of silence

Did anyone else notice the police trying to kill off the right to silence using da gang bogeyman? There is just no way the cops will keep a power like this to just ‘da gangs’ – they will use it where ever, when ever they can.

Libertarians slam new law forcing witnesses to speak up
A new bill that would force people to reveal relevant evidence will leave citizens without protection and give the state total power, say civil libertarians. The New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties has labelled the Search and Surveillance Bill - recommended by the Law Commission and tabled in Parliament on Thursday - a "chilling piece of legislation" that takes away a person's right to silence unless convicted of an offence. But Justice Minister Simon Power said the reforms, which update statutes up to 50 years old, would help investigations into drug offences and organised crime. He said the bill comprised a "complex statutory test" that did not just determine whether a person had "crucial information". "It is a matter of how they got the information, that it is right for the type of investigation and that the information would be evidential material," Mr Power said in a written statement. But Council of Civil Liberties chairman Michael Bott said New Zealand courts would become like the "Star Chamber" court of law in 17th Century England, where "silence often amounted to literal suicide". "The rack or thumbscrew has been replaced by imprisonment, nevertheless this is still an example of the state using its coercive power to extract information from its citizens," he told the Weekend Herald yesterday. Mr Bott said that under the bill, anyone who had committed trespass could be forced to provide evidence. "The trigger for an examination order [legal order to provide evidence] in a "non-business" context is that an individual or a group of three or more is or has committed an offence punishable by imprisonment." Given that trespass is punishable by three months' imprisonment, this would make campaigning peace groups - such as the anti-Springbok Tour group in the 1980s - subject to the clause, he said.

I’ve also blogged in the past about these Surveillance powers the cops are trying to push through, especially their attempt to be able to break into your house and spy on you with no judicial oversight…

Police to be given right to spy
Police will be able to use wireless video cameras to spy on crime suspects in their homes for up to three months, as a result of an impending law change and technological advances. Police will normally be required to get a "surveillance device warrant" to monitor people in situations in which they might have a "reasonable expectation of privacy", such as in their homes and offices. But they could conduct surveillance for up to three days without a warrant in "certain urgent or emergency situations". Cecil Averill, chief executive of Napier telco Airnet, says battery-powered "keyhole" cameras that sent encrypted video images back over wireless broadband links could be effectively concealed in homes, but police would need training to install them.

…the Police went to the Economic Development Ministry in 2006 and asked to reserve a chunk of the radio spectrum because they intend to be using wireless broadband and remote video surveillance equipment to conduct “covert operations” within 5 to 10 years suggesting that the Police are not going to use these powers for “certain urgent or emergency situations” at all, they intend to use them as a matter of course and the weak oversight being given here to allow cops to spy in our homes is an outrageous intrusion of Police Powers into our personal lives – these cops should have to convince a Judge that they need to break in and install spy cameras in your home, the fact they are attempting to do so without a warrant is a shocking increase in their powers without any debate whatsoever.