[shrub]

The tragic story of the Auckland woman who rang in fear and was sent a taxi is old news, and she has paid with her life for the failure of our police force, and in today's herald an article about a kid who rang for help, was ignored and then got beaten up.

But I have a story too. Recently I supported a friend to make a complaint to the police. She had been violently raped, and the rapist was at loose and was expressing interest in her daughter's wellbeing (9 years old). She made a complaint, and it took HUGE levels of courage to do that.

The officer she spoke to was in the middle of a big case and said she would call the arsehole in in a couple of weeks once the case was over. The case finished, and the officer then took the school holidays off, but was going to call him in when they were finished.

Meanwhile, the lowlife finds out that she has made a complaint and goes to ground. My friend is living in terror at the moment waiting for him to come back and have another go, or worse still visit her daughter. the cops get told that he has done a runner, they find out he is in Wellington (2 hours drive away) and proceed to write out speeding tickets and bust people for smoking pot.

Several months later, she has heard nothing. She has rung and left messages, and is still living in fear. If she gets raped again, or killed, and/or her daughter gets raped, the police will express sorrow and launch an inquiry where officers will lose their jobs at worst.

Aren't they supposed to protect us?