Fisheries Victoria officer allegedly assaults boaters

[Truedogz]

It does sound a bit fishy since the guy has had some criminal convictions. It will be interesting to hear the testimony of the officers.

I knew a few of the old time inspectors such as Jack Rhodes (Wodonga) and Pat Sheridan (Wangaratta). They were trained in the use of firearms and on occasion carried them when expecting to deal with some difficult suspects in remote locations or at sea. One NSW inspector Arnold 'Handlebars' Arentz was well known for always display a Luger when on patrol. Jack wrote a brilliant book on his career which provides a great insight into enforcement in the 1950s to 70s and how politics eventually took over.

Capsicum spray ans a batom seems pretty tame considering the isolated locations inspectors have to work - particularly when dealing with high value targets which are the focus of poachers such as lobsters.

Best Wishes

Truedogz

[smile0784]

Sorry to hear something like this has happened.
Always 2 sides to the story.
Cant form a correct opinion till i get all information

[azkay]

Do agree with the sentiment that there is 2 sides to the story. Even if the 'boaties' did attack first (as someone stated) does anyone here actually believe it is justified to do that to any member of the public, let alone a female & to knock out the teeth of someone else over a boating matter? Even in self defense that seems excessive. Instead of weapons training (as someone else stated) shouldn't these authorities be trained in controlling the situation, restraining aggressors and not letting it escalate + getting actual police there instead? I could maybe understand these types of injuries if 2 members of the public had a fight at a boat ramp but someone in a position of authority, that's suppose to have been trained, hmm..

Oh if members are reserving judgement because they believe its a complete hoax to claim some sort of victim compensation, or they believe its fake news by the paper, then i completely understand. It just seems like a stretch to me that someone could willingly do that to themselves or wife's face for a little bit of money which will be attached to a court case running for months on end. But then again, i don't think anything would surprise me these days..

[piscateur]

Azkay, do you agree that the story sounds a little absurd?? If so, there must be more to it. That's why most on here would rather get more details of the incident, rather than make assumptions and conclusions based on one side of the story.

[azkay]

Fair call, but to be honest it doesn't really sound absurd to me at all and i didn't mean to conclude anything. Assumptions on the other hand, have been made, by using the information we have at hand. I made the assumption that regardless of the 'stories', even if you DONT believe either side, then any boating altercation resulting in a human getting his head stomped and teeth knocked out is excessive. I stated that if the news is fake or its a hoax then i CAN understand the skepticism. I'd be saying the same thing if Fisheries were assaulted. Regardless of any details which will never be confirmed unless you were there, or there was CCTV, there will always be 2 conflicting stories.

[piscateur]

Fisheries officers having to pull out batons and capsicum spray isn't absurd?
Wonder what actually happened?