“Dude, you’re a cop?” Scenario operations, ‘Mr Big’, and evidence obtained by undercover policing in New Zealand
In the last few years New Zealand courts have been asked to rule on the propriety of various types of police scenario operations – undercover stings designed to generate physical and confessional evidence against criminal suspects where ordinary police investigations have been ineffective.
From police operatives planted among criminal gangs, fake police cellmates engaging murderers in secretly recorded conversations, and the luring of criminal suspects into fabricated crime organisations, deceptive policing is an effective, but arguably controversial, law enforcement tool in New Zealand today.
This talk will examine the criminal justice system’s response to significantly inculpatory evidence generated by surreptitious policing. Using real investigative examples, court cases and hypotheticals, it will ask what limits there should be, if any, on both the police use of undercover tactics and the willingness of judges to admit deceptively obtained evidence in criminal trials.
Bio
Associate Professor Scott Optican specialises in the law of evidence, criminal procedure and the New Zealand Bill of Rights. He is a regular media commentator on criminal justice issues and has been a consultant to the New Zealand Law Commission.
8:00 PM @Little Easy, Ponsonby, 198 Ponsonby Road, Ponsonby, AKL 1011
Also speaking at this location at 6:30pm is Mike Lee.
