A poster naming undercover police officers who have been
working on campus.
Police are making no apologies for using undercover
officers on the University of Otago campus and say they will
continue doing so.
Posters with pictures of plain-clothed officers working on
campus and labelled "Narks in our Class?" and "Narkiology
101. How to spot a nark" appeared around the university on
Monday.
One poster shows plain-clothed officers involved in the
recent arrest of three people at a National Organisation for
the Reform of Marijuana Laws (Norml) stand at a Otago
University Students Association market day.
The other shows plain-clothed officers at a regular protest
"smoke-up" on campus.
The posters name the officers, give their badge numbers and
ask people who think there might be an undercover police
officer in their class to contact Norml.
Norml leader Abe Gray said he was not sure who had put the
posters together and posted them on the Norml website, from
where they could be downloaded, but he believed the images
were taken from video footage recently posted by Norml
members on YouTube.
He said the posters had probably been put together because
students felt uncomfortable being under surveillance on
campus.
From information police had divulged during various
interactions with them, it was believed they were also
working undercover in lectures, Mr Gray said.
Dunedin area police commander Inspector Dave Campbell said he
was disappointed, but not surprised, photographs of police
officers were posted on the Norml website.
Police were running an operation to stop offences against the
Misuse of Drugs Act on the university campus and, to date, as
a result, had issued nine trespass notices to non-students
and three to people enrolled at the university.
Those trespassers included known drug dealers, gang members
or associates and one secondary school pupil.
Insp Campbell said trespass notices were issued by police
acting as an agent of the university.
The 12 people issued with trespass notices had a total of 26
charges pending before the courts for a variety of drug and
other offences.
Plain-clothed and uniformed officers had been used in the
operation and a variety of policing methods would continue to
be used, Insp Campbell said.
"If people continue to use drugs on campus or incite others
to break the law they can expect attention from police."
A university spokesman said no-one was able to comment on
plain-clothed officers working on campus until today.
A name, residential address, and (preferably residential) telephone number is required from readers who comment on ODT Online. These details will not be visible to site visitors.