In New Zealand's southernmost city, Mr Smith reportedly patrolled the
streets at more than twice the local speed limit.  Thing was, he got
caught along the way!

http://www.stuff.co.nz/3936866a11.html

"Speed camera snaps officer
The Southland Times | Tuesday, 23 January 2007

A police officer who accelerated to 115kmh in a 50kmh zone in
Invercargill on his way to a bus crash last year is now in court
defending a charge of driving at a speed that might have been
dangerous.

Winton-based Sergeant Gregory Arthur Smith, 42, was responding to a
priority one call to the crash, which involved a school bus with 10
children taken to hospital on February 9.

He was caught by a speed camera several hundred metres from the main
entrance to the James Hargest Junior College in Queens Drive, the
Invercargill District Court was told yesterday.

The speed camera, hidden in a van, had been sited near the school as
part of a national police campaign dubbed Speed Kills Kids.

The civilian camera operator, Paul Mussen, told the court he saw the
police car turn into Queens Drive from Layard Street with lights
flashing, stop or slow down at the school pedestrian crossing to allow
pupils to cross, and then accelerate hard towards him.

Mussen said his camera was 270m north of the Layard Street-Queens Drive
intersection and when he first saw the flashing lights he assumed the
patrol car was involved in the campaign.

Questioned by Smith's lawyer, Bill Dawkins, Mussen said he had not
pressed the stand-by button to deactivate the camera because "it was
too late".

Dawkins: You said "it was too late to activate the stand-by button
which we're not allowed to do anyway". Do you accept you told the
police that?

Mussen: Yes.

In re-examination, prosecutor Craig Power asked what the stand-by
button was for.

Mussen said the button was often pushed when emergency services passed
so they weren't faced with "extra paperwork".

Questioned by Dawkins, Mussen said he could not remember if the patrol
car's siren was on.

Power argued the speed driven by Smith was dangerous to the public
given the time of day, the fact it was a residential area, a 50kmh
zone, near a school, school buses and walkways and was at a peak time
for traffic when the speed camera caught him at 8.43am.

Smith later that day faxed a report to police saying he had been
detected by the camera, disclosing his speed and explained he had been
heading for what sounded like a serious accident, he said.

A police witness, former sub area police supervisor for Southland
rural, Senior Sergeant Olaf Jensen, said that on February 9 he was made
aware of a crash between the bus, which was carrying pupils from Isla
Bank School, and a car between Riverton and Otautau shortly after 8am.

He called Smith on his cellphone and gave him brief details of the
crash, which was classed priority one - requiring immediate police
attendance.

Later that day, Smith told him he would submit a report about the speed
camera activation and faxed Invercargill police a copy of the early
warning report, Jensen said.

The case continues today."

Cheers,

Carl Rogers
"Adding human experience to highway enthusiasm"
********
Calrog.com, http://www.calrog.com :
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An integrated media arm in Turn-of-the-Century PC Development,
International Highway Research, and Interpersonal Psychology.  Has
served your home country and ninety-four of its worldwide neighbours
since 2000, through Internet downstream and published works.
********