detectives on the case who were corrupt. He says that planting of a cartridge in the Crewe's garden was condoned by police management at the time. He makes the case that some officers are willing to break the law in a misguided belief that the end justifies the means and the means "is best decided by you and others in your sub culture of police, for what better epitomises the values of a decent society than those cherished by the men and women in blue?" He also wrote Too many loose ends to ignore Crewe case in which he states: "It is my view that the police then, as they do now, suffer greatly from the misconception that preservation of the police is more important than preservation of the rule of law." Another critique of police sub culture was published in The Sunday Star-Times, titled Deep in the Forest in which he wrote: Meurant also penned Officers in charge of weapons culpable in which he discussed the police shooting of Stephen John Bellingham in Christchurch after Bellingham was attacking cars with a hammer. "Based on what I knew of the incident I do not believe police were justified in shooting to kill." Meurant also wrote a column "Urewera trial shows the cops have been getting it wrong". in which he criticized the police for the raids of October 2007 in which 17 people were arrested – allegedly as terrorists. Most of the charges were dropped four years later. Meurant believes the police abrogated the basic legal rights of defendants to "no detention without charge" and "to be taken before a court as soon as possible". References 1947 births Living people New Zealand National Party MPs Leaders of political parties in New Zealand New Zealand police officers University of Auckland alumni New Zealand Conservative Party MPs New Zealand politicians convicted of crimes Local politicians in New Zealand Independent MPs of New Zealand Focus NZ politicians People from Te Kōpuru Rodney District Councillors Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand MPs for North Island electorates People convicted of assault