Yes it would indeed be disturbing to see Rickards back working on the Police force , I suspect fortunately this is not going to happen . The thing about Criminal Jury Trials is - Proof Beyond Reasonable Doubt- which is a sound cautious principle . Practising as a defence lawyer in Criminal Trials, often that principle is hammered by myself and my colleagues with successs , as it should be . If you don't 'know' don't guess . The truth- maybe sadly- is left often to those immediatly involved, and because of lack of evidence never resolved in the public forum that is the Criminal Court. In the interests of fair Trial previous convictions should never be lead by Prosecution, also a very sound principle to prevent the obvious prejudice infecting a 'fair' decision on the current matter at hand . The prosecution can lead 'similar fact evidence' where there is a very similar modis operendi to some recent event by the accused which led a to Criminal Conviction, and its possible there were unsuccessful pretrial applications by the Crown of that kind with respect to the recent Rickards etc Trial .
And ofcourse the Police should have vigourously investigateed these allegations . Particularly since some of their own were involved . This to me is such a no brainer .

tell ya something ...surf life savers used to be real naff in their speedos, crew cuts, and stupid bathing caps , completete with that ridiculous tow line reel theyd run to the shore with to do a rescue..but times they have a changed . Now you see em hovering here at muriwai about knee deep at the edge of the surf,(standing by in a very solid swell) big baggy boardshorts and long sleeved sweatshirt tops - yellow and red ofcourse , with a set of flippers strapped over one shoulder and a walkie talkie and that rescue red thing over the other and generally a big messy mop of hair. Was talkiing to one of em the other day and said so what do ya do with the sweatshirt and walkie talkie if you need to do a rescue ? cooly he replied, "just give the stuff to the nearest civilian and bomb it out there." Plus alot of them surf these days in the off hours .
Like I said quite cool indeed . Now that would be a summer job worth having .