'Adrian, this is the police'

Green laser dots fom the AOS lit-up the chest of a former cop

Nov 23, 2022

For years I would receive beautifully handwritten letters every couple of weeks.

They were always written on refill paper and usually featured BLOCK CAPITALS written in black ink.

They often documented the trials and tribulations of man who has endured much pain both physically and mentally, in his long-running fight against bureaucracy.

That man is Frank Van Der Eik.

You can read this story I wrote on him - Veteran cop who survived being slashed with a saw in the fight of his life with ACC - five years ago, and we’ve stayed in touch since, largely through his letters, and the odd phonecall.

It had been a while since I last heard from him.

A few weeks ago he knocked on my office door, shook my hand, and quietly placed another handwritten letter on my table before leaving as quickly as he arrived.

HAMISH? FOR YOU, it said.

The letter documented an incident involving the former police officer with the same organisation he once served.

It is important to note that Frank suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, he dealt with some pretty horrific scenes as a police officer. Again, you can read about them in the above story.

So imagine you are asleep in bed in a remote part of Otago, and you are awoken by a voice behind a loudhailer, calling ‘‘Adrian’’, which is Frank’s given name.

The voice continues.

‘‘Adrian, this is the police.’’

The officer then uses a different name: an Adrian Van Der Kerk or something similar, which confuses Frank Van Der Eik, who is now wondering just what the hell is going on.

Frank used to live in Palmerston when I first interviewed him, but has swapped that small town for the Otago hamlet of Waitahuna – about 10km near Lawrence.

It was on Sunday, September 18, about 2.30am when police surrounded the home, pictured above.

Frank’s confusion was compounded by police saying they had spoken to him earlier, despite having no mobile coverage or landline at his property.

Frank walked out of his front door only to have ‘‘many green laser dots’’ pointing at his chest area.

“I knew not to make any mistake or stumble on drive, as every green dot on my body literally meant a bullet that could/would kill me . . . and I’m used to being on the other side,’’ the 13-year police veteran said.

But that service counted for nothing, and he was handcuffed and had his home searched. After 15 minutes nothing was found, and he was released with the AOS leaving into the dark from where they came.

Frank later told me that police appeared to be having some difficulty in identifying him, despite his house and vehicles being registered in his name.

He told me that he was involved in an incident earlier that evening, doing burn-outs on his property after a neighbour had cut down a tree on his property, but did not use a firearm which was alleged by police.

“I don't have guns, never had guns, never had an arms licence.”

He lived in a rural area where the sounds of gunshots was not uncommon.

‘‘AOS would be here every week for shots heard.’’

Frank said he was later visited by police ‘‘and tried to tell me what I could or could not do on my own property’’.

I asked police about the initial incident they were called to, this was the official reply:

At 8.20pm on 17 September, Police received a call from a Coghill Road resident, who was concerned for the welfare of a neighbour.

The caller advised that the neighbour had been seen behaving erratically throughout the day. The caller also reported hearing two loud bangs that he thought may have been gunshots.

Due to the possibility of a firearm being at the property, AOS attended as a precaution. The matter was resolved without incident.

Police confirmed that there was no firearm at the property – the noise heard by the person who called police was the man hitting a metal roofing sheet with a steel hammer.

After the incident he filed a complaint to the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) which replied on November 10.

‘‘I can confirm that, although police had the wrong name, you and your property were the target of their operation,’’ a case manager said.

Police were called to his address over a suspected firearm incident, and the AOS deployed to search for the firearm under the Search and Surveillance Act 2012.

‘‘While I recognise you found your experience distressing, I believe the AOS search was reasonable and done appropriately, ‘‘ he decision noted.

Police acknowledged that they called Frank by the wrong name, and ‘‘I recognise this added to your confusion about the whole situation’’.

The Police would contact Frank to apologise about using the wrong name, the IPCA letter said.

He was yet to receive that apology.

Thanks for sharing Frank, and keep those letters coming.

A quick thanks to Megan Crawford, of Dunedin Airport, who sent me this.

That’s an electronic billboard featuring some iconic Dunedin imagery in the heart of Brisbane.

Beautiful.

In other news if you love peanut butter, I see there is a new company in town: Ginger Fox Foods.

Please check their products out.

This Sunday from 10am-3pm, the annual St Andrews Day celebrations would be held in the Octagon.

The day includes Highland Games events for kids, speed porridge eating (yes!) and haggis pie eating (!!!!).

cereals with nuts in bowl near gray stainless steel teaspoon — Photo by Ana Azevedo on Unsplash

People were urged to wear some tartan.

This made me check my own Scottish links, and I read how my clan was related to Vikings and not the Irish. I did one of those Ancestry DNA tests a while back, and the Viking link was quite apparent, but I have some questions about ye olde grand grand grand pappy after I detected Portugese and French lineage.

Family history can be quite sobering.

Today I found this out: