So i am writing a paper about police etc, very specific and all that, and it leads to the question, what powers did TSS officers have before the amalgamation with police! Obviously the power to stop vehicles, but did they have powers to arrest and such, and to what extent! thought i would just bounce it off you fellas, any info is helpful :)
foxdonut,
May 23, 4:13am
Before my time sorry.
gunhand,
May 23, 4:17am
My wife was married to a cop way back then before and during the change. She says, yes power to arrest for driving charges but if they pursued you and you went onto your property they then had to call the police to deal with it.
jamstew,
May 23, 4:18am
Thanks, anything else is helpful! there doesn't seem to be much written about it, all seems to be word of mouth. Appreciate it!
gunhand,
May 23, 4:20am
What you want to know!
jamstew,
May 23, 4:23am
In general what type of powers and affiliation they had with the police at the time - were they considered equal! would a TSS officer ever assist police! I am doing a history of the enforcement in new zealand, and the TSS are a bit of an anomaly to the usual Police only right of arrest etc
gunhand,
May 23, 4:28am
They would set up road blocks etc if police were chasing someone etc. Then they had local authorites and there duristictions ran out at the city limits where the MOT would take over. Police however could go anywhere. They did co-opperate as services but needless to say there were differing opinions on some matters.
tmenz,
May 23, 4:56am
I think they had to be completely overt - they weren't allowed to hide anywhere! They had to have their hats on whenever they were tracking, chasing or apprehending, interviewing and writing tickets.
gunhand,
May 23, 5:05am
What do you mean by "hide"No Police hide. Sounds like they sat on the side of the road with bushes over them lol. However choosing a strategic place (like a dip in the road) to sit was a choice but still not hiding.And yes hats had to be worn when dealing with the public etc.
cowboy110,
May 23, 6:03am
In the late 60's and early 70's the local authority traffic departments (council cops) were integrated into the Ministry of Transport.MOT traffic cops had power of arrest for traffic related offences only.Although police were able to prosecute for minor traffic offences they didn't have ticket books back then so to even deal with an expired rego or bald tyre they would have to prepare a fairly time consuming court file.So in practice if Mot pulled a car over and found stolen gear in it or smelt dope they would have their dispatcher call the police dispatcher and police would arrive to deal with it.If police pulled a car over and it involved a traffic offence the MOT would generally be called to deal with it.In 1992 the MOT TSS and Police amalgamated.Traffic cops were sworn in as Police, had a short retraining at the police college, swapped their MOT uniforms and cars for the blue ones and let loose on the public. At the time there was a bit of resistance from the "old cops" about the amalgamation. They felt the reputation of the police would be harmed if they were seen dealing with minor traffic issues instead of real crime.There was an expectation (requirement) that they made use of their nice new ticket books.And the rest is history.
tmenz,
May 23, 3:33pm
A lot of them had motorbikes and were obliged to look like Billy T James.
smac,
May 23, 8:29pm
I take it you've contacted the Police College and also the Police museum! There's plenty of ex MOT still in the Police that will be able to give first hand info.
jamstew,
May 23, 9:43pm
I have contacted the local station, and they are getting an ernie to email me back when he has time. I simply thought there was no harm in scouting around here for a few stories either!
smac,
May 23, 10:52pm
Ya I wasn't saying you shouldn't ask, just suggesting where your best sources of info will be.
footplate1,
May 23, 11:32pm
It came out of the Quigley Report on the Police.I was one of the officials looking at the recommendations.Merging was one of them. It may be be available under the Official Information Act. The report was submitted when the Labour Government was in office.Recommendations implemented under the Nats. I have since met a few of the Police who were affected and gained a number of anecdotes.Most wanted to punch my lights out! There were some big-name policemen involved in the evaluation - at least two became Commissioners.
cowboy110,
May 23, 11:53pm
Why do you refer to them as "ernies"!
footplate1,
May 23, 11:58pm
But they did use mufti cars.Though that practice stopped for a while.I knew the then head TO and he was personally against hiding the patrols.
footplate1,
May 24, 12:01am
I have an odd one or two but doubt they can be repeated here.
If you are doing serious research, there must be a facility people can post to, discretely.Such as a university research site.
jamstew,
May 24, 3:53am
they are called ernies apparently because most of the traffic officers who transferred across gained numbers beginning with "e", chances are if you are talking to a cop with his number beginning with "E" he was an old MOT officer.
cowboy110,
May 24, 3:59am
Yep, you've obviously done some homework.Just checking to make sure you knew why you were calling them "ernies".
ema1,
May 24, 5:00am
Seen them years ago hiding(guess you could call it!) in long grass on the Kimbell-Fairlie straight piece of road at the Kimbell end and all you could see was the roof lights protruding through the long grass and that was looking at them from a little distance while driving a 10 ton truck Mmmmm interesting question.
ema1,
May 24, 5:06am
Another one was a cop used to park around the corner from our show room GM Dealership where I worked and bouncing radar beams directly off the show room windows and up the bridge to catch speedsters coming down the bridge into town just up from where our show room was located. We used to service their MOT cars and the cop concerned freely admitted that to us actually, quite a revelation that was to all of us there and damn cheeky to boot! Apparently the angle of deflection worked out spot on to send the beams right up in line with the bridge, wonder how they worked that one out!
mrcat1,
May 24, 5:11am
Years ago alate mate of mine bounced a unmarked MOT car into a drain in Tahuna in the middle of the night, of all the people it had in it was a MOT cop, the minister of police, minister for the railways, minister of transport and one other that i cant remember. It was in the days of the trucks competeing against the rail and this late mate was one of the main trucking operators trying to change the system, funnily enough nothing ever came of him bouncing the car into a drain with his falcon.
jmma,
May 24, 5:15am
MOT used to knock off at midnight, then you could drive home from the party (o:
footplate1,
May 26, 1:30am
Curious to know if you received advice on the official documents. Particularly the Quigley Reportl
I assume your research is serious and aimed at something constructive.Or even an academic qualication.
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