Out of the Woodwork
The Napier siege is now over, after police entered the booby-trapped house of the gunman, Jan Molenaar, and found him dead. The cause of his death is still unknown. The body of Len Snee has been recovered and the town of Napier is slowly returning to normalcy. At least, it will when all the explosive devices in Molenaar’s house have been disarmed.
The knee-jerk comments have weevilled out of the woodwork already.
First off the block is the tired old meme that the police brought all this upon themselves because they
a) disregarded Molenaar’s rights/privacy/mana/voodoo;
b) didn’t take the advice of Molenaar’s mother/partner/friend/neighbour/pet cat;
c) pissed off Molenaar because they were rude/intrusive/annoying/breathing loudly
d) had insufficient intelligence because they didn’t spy on him/check with his mates/ask his pet cat.
All of which is utter nonsense. This was a routine drug bust for a minor offense. It is not as if they were coming to arrest the man for murder. And the moron shot three unarmed men. That does not make him irritable, scared or startled. That makes him a murderous coward. Which brings me to the second stupid reaction.
He was really a nice guy.
You know, he was just a “softie” who snapped. This would be why he shot three unarmed men merely because they angered him. EARTH TO DOMINION POST: This is NOT a normal reaction. Normal people do not shoot unarmed policemen. Normal people are argumentative, bloody minded and not averse to some fisticuffs, but they do not shoot down a policeman like a dog. Regardless of whatever imagined provocation, this was the reaction of a very disturbed individual. He was not a normal person who “snapped”.
You can paint idyllic pictures of his childhood and postulate about trigger factors all you want, but the vast majority of people who have been through exactly the same thing are normal and do not shoot policemen. This is not something that “could have happened to anyone”. How many people do you know who have “thousands of rounds of ammunition and explosives”? Which brings us to reaction three.
It must have been the guns. Cue the frenzying of the antigun lobby. Whale-oil points out that no-one called for a ban on air-rifles when Don Wilkinson was shot to death with one, just as no one called for a ban on screwdrivers a few years ago when a road rage victim was stabbed to death with one.
Such was Molenaar’s obsession with guns that he would almost certainly have accumulated his collection even if it had been entirely illegal. The majority of his weapons were, of course, illegal anyway. It is absurd to suggest that banning guns would have prevented this tragedy.
But if you truly want absurdity, then look no further than Peter Cresswell’s argument that this all could have been avoided by legalising cannabis. Superficially, this is true. But it has to be the most pathetic and meaningless argument I have ever heard. We could prevent Meth lab explosions by legalising “P”. We could reduce drunk driving convictions by raising the legal alcohol limit. We could stop statutory rape in a heartbeat by reducing the age of consent to three. You can always reduce the legal consequences of a crime by legalising it. But that does not make it the right thing to do.
I very much doubt if the police did everything perfectly here. No one ever does. But now is not the time to be pointing fingers. Now is not the time for the media to stir the public into a blame frenzy (if there is ever a time for that). Now is the time to let the police and Len Snee’s family mourn the dead in peace. Let Molenaar’s mother lay her son to rest.
Time enough later for recriminations and lessons learned.
No related posts.
May 10 09 12:19 am
Great summary MD. Time for calm reflection.
pmofnz’s last blog post..Reflection time
May 10 09 7:58 am
About the best summary I’ve read yet. Thanks.
May 10 09 10:31 am
Unfortunately there are two lessens to be learned.. the first is that an inquiry will determine that the police did not take sufficient precautions given the man’s history.. and make recommendations that will further hamstring the police and society in getting on with their business.
The second is the real lessen.. that shit happens, and regardless of precautions will happen again.
Many people in the Napier “scene” knew Molenaar over the last 20 years. They knew him as a bouncer and later as “security” around pubs and nightclubs. He was physically invincible, quiet, controlled and often terrifying. He could take a steel chair bashed over his head without a change in facial expression, chase the perpetrator and dish out a hiding in a controlled fashion.
Perforce the cops knew him.. as often on their side of the fence as he might have been slightly on the other. Like others they would have certainly seen the potential for a breakout.. but you don’t put people away for life on “potential”, and nor do you approach him on a minor crime in “full metal jacket” gunned up and ready for anything. By the same token, nor can you ignore perhaps a complaint that his dealing was becoming more open.
Molenaar and the cops are simply part of the NZ scene, his lifestyle, training, work and obsessions prepared him as much for possible heroism as infamy and he had reached a stage where unfortunately the latter occurred.
Could this have been avoided? Its quite possible it had been avoided for the last 20 years and this time the luck ran out.
Incidentally, it was another ex Taradale cop, Wally Chalmers, who’s murder in the 1960s brought about the formation of the NZ AOS.
JC
May 10 09 3:50 pm
I agree with most your points. While now is not the time to criticise the three officers who were shot – one fatally I think the handling of the siege was not handled well. I know plenty say the police are the experts and you were not there.
I was not at the liquor store when the police waited while the owner bleeds to death either . I think police procedure is wrong for sieges in general.
In Napier, it is fortunate that there was no more lose of life. There easily could have been. Some of the neighbours nearly were hit. There were also people with medical problems.
I do not see why the police could not have saturated the house with tear gas and percussion grenades and drive Molenaar out of the house if he did not heed their warning. I doubt if we will get a satisfactory answer any more than we did with the case at the liquor store.
The police are putting the public at risk by charging members of the public who take quick decisive action to defend themselves and their family. Other people then have to think will I get charged if I use too much force against this violent criminal.
We continually hear the police are the professionals – the police are the experts. If so why are the not capable of quick decisive action like in Napier?
I could not see how the New Zealand Police could handle a school shooting like in the States where a deranged shooter is going from class room to class room shooting students and reloading. Throwing a cordon around the school would not be an option.
May 11 09 1:53 pm
We could stop statutory rape in a heartbeat by reducing the age of consent to three. You can always reduce the legal consequences of a crime by legalising it.
The level of idiocy re how this could have been avoided has achieved such peaks that I’m surprised no-one’s suggested it could have been avoided simply by legalising the shooting of policemen – problem solved at a stroke…
Psycho Milt’s last blog post.."Victim of the war on drugs," my arse
May 12 09 9:56 am
I agree PM, legalising cannabis could have avoided this one confrontation but wouldn’t have changed the fact that there was a man with an arsenal he was prepared to use against cops – he would have flared up about something else.
Mr Dennis’s last blog post..You don’t need a gun to be a dangerous psycopath
May 17 09 8:56 pm
I find the mentality of the pro-Molenaar factor deeply disturbing.
Who in their right mind would include pretty bright balloons at the funeral of someone who gunned down four unarmed men and poured round after round into the homes of innocent people on his street?
If you were the partner of such a man, why would you be grinning and waving like the Queen from the vehicle carrying his body away from the service?
The attitude of Molenaar’s friend who daubed “Legend” on his roof sums up the mentality of these kind of people. Morons; doubtless a few cells short of a complete brain through regular use of the illegal substance the cops found at the gunman’s house.
The police weren’t to blame for this. It’s all down to a nutter who thought he was Rambo and built himself a stockpile of deadly weapons. Except, as far as I’m aware, Rambo never shot unarmed men in the back and he didn’t end up with one of his own high-calibre bullets in his brain.