outbackjack, puleeze refrain from inventing a fiction you are not.
just say what you mean, no need to do dress ups.

Rainer,
Once again you sit back and attempt to have the last say.

Jimmy Chi's song "Acceptable Coon” has been turned off.

I have no idea which paradise of police propriety in a remote community 'outback jack' has lived. In my long experience in remote areas of central Australia and WA I have witnessed the constant police heavy-handedness with Aboriginal people. Aboriginal people are singled out by police for harrassment, intimidation - always treated as if they are under suspicion. I suspect Murulunji in the isolation of Palm Island had every reason to fear for his life in the hands of police. The man died.

“No. People die in the presence of doctors all time without trials”

My goodness! Gravely ill people dying in the presence of their doctor is comparable to an inebriated but healthy man receiving mortal injuries in the presence of a police officer, is it?

“Yes and no. Yes equally fully. No it shouldn’t be applied”

Now there’s a confusing response if ever I’ve seen one!

You are virtually saying the same thing that I am being very critical of the QPU over – yes the principle should apply, but no not to them because they or their police officer members are above the law !! !! !!

“For most people the principle of innocent until proven guilty applies”

But not for police eh? What do you mean most people? Everyone!

“You charge people if there is sufficient evidence that they are guilty not because they haven’t proven their innocence”

For goodness sake no! People should get charged if there is significant suspicion of guilt and if the police think that the evidence as presented in court will most likely result in a guilty verdict, or that there is strong circumstantial evidence of guilt and that the principled thing to do is to charge them rather than release them even if the hard evidence is not there at the time.

“It isn’t a principle in the legal system”

Another strange response. You haven’t disagreed with this principle (the fact that a healthy person in an officer’s presence and that the office couldn’t prove or very strongly indicate his innocence quickly should surely have been sufficient grounds for trial), or that it IS the all-important baseline consideration here. The principle involved is indeed fundamental to our legal system. Why would you think it isn’t?

You seem to be really struggling to justify the actions of the QPU, and to mount a case that Hurley shouldn’t even be subjected to due legal process despite the grave circumstances.

Dammit, the first line of my last post disappeared.

I am responding to mjpb.

- its not easy being. Look sport I think I need to temper your opinion with the other kind of police officer. I've experienced both good and bad. Most are really good folk. DK's have a point but so do DM.

John Law
Music: Barton, Lyrics: Casey, McColgan

Now let me tell you about a man named John Law
He's a neighborhood cop the toughest man I ever saw
A man who knows his duty, a man with a gun
To the people in the neighborhood John Law is number one

Freeze, we said Stop
His name was John Law
For John Law,
Neighborhood cop
A man we know and love

When John Laws not kickin' Ass on robbers and rapist
He's helpin little kids deliver newspapers
When John Laws not chasin crackheads from their perch
He's helpin old ladies on their way to church

chorus:

He walks the Beat
Riding scumbags from the streets
He turns his eye to petty crime
Cause John Law will never drop a dime

Suburban Anarchists who've never broke the law
Sing about police oppression, but they've never met John Law
He doesn't f@#k with young kids drinking in the Park
But he makes the city safe for women after dark
END

I think the Police Union needs to aspire more to this kind of Police Force. I recall being down at West End one Sunday morn' when a motorcycle cop sat chatting to the local homeless. They were laughing and joking about. Let's not be like the racists and make generalisations about these people.

I think that TurnRightThenLeft is correct to say that the PU were concerned about government interference. Indeed, I think there needs to be an enquiry into the networking that, I think, led to Hurley not being charged in the first place.

I don't envy the DPP's prosecutor and the defence will go in hard on the victim's reputation. Not looking forward to a strained time between PU, DPP and certain Queenslanders.