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No weak gays in NZ police force

Fri 22 Apr 2005 In: New Zealand Daily News

The Police Association has dismissed concerns about weak gays being recruited for the force in the wake of the police computer-porn scandal as a "non-issue". Newstalk ZB host Leighton Smith agreed with a caller to his programme this morning over a so-called 'real concern' that people who were less strong and non-heterosexual would be recruited for the police now that the integrity of the existing force had been called into question. But Police Association president Greg O'Connor told GayNZ.com this was a “non-issue” as there are already “plenty of people in the police who are openly gay.” He says there is no reason to doubt the strength or capability of any officers on the job. “The police culture is generally a strong culture.” Police officers are recruited on their merits for the job, he says, not because they are from a particular culture or hold a certain belief system. “When you've got a job to do, you've got a job to do, irrelevant of what your belief systems are. We have people who are deeply religious, and they're expected to do their job as well as atheists."    

Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff

First published: Friday, 22nd April 2005 - 12:00pm

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