Cops

It's not that I've anything against the local police here. There's is some residual uncertainty, sure, from the time when cops meant I was in trouble. But, I've had more to do with the police this year than I've ever had in my life.

My boy was returned, again, his morning having disappeared from 4.30pm yesterday. They found him with an 18 year old youth, known to groom young teenage boys. It's becoming so serious, now, that I fear there's little recourse but to have him taken away by Child Services.

The Police Youth Aid officer s a good guy. I feel he cares as much about my son as do I, but he's growing frustrated. It flows in one ear and out the other. My boy knows how to placate, to appear remorseful before muttering 'fuck you' under his breath.

This paedophile arsehole is 'a cool guy' and everyone is mistaken about him. Rohan repeats this refrain constantly with the certainty of the well-manipulated. Of course he knows he's gay and he has a boyfriend the same age. In fact, his 'boyfriend' is only 14.

We have lots of gay friends and I'd trust any one one of them with my children. They don't prey on kids. This guy is not gay, he's a paedophile and my boy is not sophisticated enough to tell the difference.

A 'friend' has only your best interests at heart. A friend doesn't draw you away from school, from responsibility, from maturity. A friend doesn't exploit you but offers companionship without strings attached.

I went around to this guy's place one day. I wanted to scope him – see for myself, what he looked like and hear his story.

He told me Rohan clambers in the window and wants to hang out. He explains he sends him away, because he knows he shouldn't be there and his older brother would beat him up. He says so with conviction, but with a matter of factness which is almost compelling. I ask whether he sends him away all the time and he replies, 'of course.' Compelling, maybe, but a complete lie.

He lives with his grandmother. I wonderful old woman in her eighties and completely oblivious to what's happening under her roof. Either that, or she's a past master at covering for him. She's of German/Maori ancestry and in other circumstances I could share a cake and a cupper with her and listen to her story.

The cops don't understand why she doesn't throw him out, but the familial ties are strong. Her generation don't do those things to family.

They locked him up yesterday – suspecting him of burglering a liquor store. Rohan denies his 'friend' had anything to do with it – even though the cops found stacks of booze in his house. How this guy can suck every ounce of reason out of my boy is a fascinating study, if it was anyone else but my son.

The guy's not even smart enough to stash the loot some place else. What burgler plants the evidence in his own bedroom? A real stupid criminal imagines the cops are as stupid as them. A smart criminal doesn't do a job five doors down the road from where he lives.