The repressive police state

The headline, I believe, is misleading. This is a story about a man who was targeted by police, not because he committed a crime but because he had successfully taken on a state agency in court.

Police going door-to-door after Ashburton killings

A man who fought a battle with ACC after suffering serious work-related injuries claims he has been the focus of a police investigation in the wake of Ashburton Work and Income office shootings.

Stuff,

7 September, 2014

Police have been knocking on doors of people considered a possible threat, after being handed lists of names by Government departments in the wake of last Monday's killings.

Susan Leigh Cleveland, 55, and Peg Noble, 67 were killed when a man opened fire in the office about 10am. Lindy Curtis, 43, was injured in the shooting and remains in hospital.

Forty-eight-year-old Russell John Tully is in custody facing two charges of murder and one of attempted murder.

The shootings have prompted Government departments - apparently including Work and Income and ACC - to pass lists to police of people about whom they harbour concerns.

But the move has infuriated Auckland resident Michael Cruickshank after two officers turned up on his doorstep at lunchtime on Friday.

Cruickshank, who suffered back injuries and nearly lost a hand in a building site accident in 1995, has been in a lengthy battle with ACC.

The department has paid him more than $150,000 in reparations for wrongly stopping his weekly compensation payments.

During his battle for compensation, which he is still being paid as he remains unable to work, ACC staff accused him of making a threat to kill.

He was subsequently found not guilty in a High Court trial in 2010.

He says he has never threatened violence, and has not been into an ACC office in eight years.

"The jury believed me because I did not hold back. I told them every ounce of the truth."

That his name was handed to police by ACC was a continuation of false claims against him, he says.

A police spokesman confirmed the campaign, but would not indicate the scale of the door-knocking or which departments had contacted police.

"As a result of these discussions police have visited a number of individuals to ensure the safety of staff and the public."

Friday saw Christchurch police arrest a man after he made threats to a staff member at the New Brighton Work and Income office.

On Thursday, armed police went to a Hamilton property after threats were made against staff at the Hamilton East Work and Income office.