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6 Victoria U. Wellington L. Rev. 31 (1971-1973)
The Policeman's Friend Section 3D of the Police Offences Act, 1927

handle is hein.journals/vuwlr6 and id is 41 raw text is: THE POLICEMAN'S FRIEND THE POLICEMAN'S FRIEND SECTION 3D OF THE POLICE OFFENCES ACT, 1927 Section 3D of The Police Offences Act, 1927, as enacted by Section 2 of The Police Offences Amendment Act (No. 2) 1960, provides that:- Every person commits an offence and is liable to imprison- ment for a term not exceeding three months or to a fine not exceeding two hundred dollars' Who in or within view of any public place as defined by section 40 hereof, or within the hearing of any person therein, behaves in a riotous, offensive, threatening, insulting or disorderly manner, or uses any threatening, abusive or insulting words. Section 3D is one of the most frequently used sections of the Police Offences Act 1927, and charges under it are laid almost every day. The wide-ranging nature of the section's operation is best illus- trated by some recent examples of its use. Words painted on a motor-cyclist's jacket which referred indecently to a sexual practice together with a reference to the police were held to constitute offensive behaviour in a recent Magistrate's Court decision.' A charge of offensive behaviour brought against a 64-year-old Anglican clergyman for appearing naked on a public beach was dismissed after he produced in Court a pair of flesh coloured shorts.3 Three engineering students were charged under section 3D after they had attempted to stop the Royal Motorcade during the visit of the Royal Family to Auckland on March 25, 1970. The stated object of the students' action was to make the Queen an honorary member of the Auckland University Society cf Engineers. The students' defence was that their action was nothing more than a harmless student prank was rejected and they were each fined $20.' Three youths who had taken two Anzac Day wreaths from the Cenotaph in Palmerston North and set fire to them were charged with disorderly behaviour under Section 3D. The youths had thought that the wreaths had been laid by the Progressive Youth Movement and believed their action would be acceptable to most people. However, the Magistrate did not accept this argument and fined the youths $30 each.8 The political demonstrator is not immune from the section's operation. Sixteen people, opposed to the 1970 All Black Rugby Tour of South Africa, invaded Athletic 1. Now $500-Police Offences Amendment Act 1967 s. 2(1). 2. Evening Post, 8 April, 1970. 3. Dominion, 8 April, 1970. 4. Evening Post, 12 May, 1970. 5. Evening Post, 12 May, 1970.

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