Sign Here To Make the Police Complaints Authority A Separate Organisation  Not Run The By Police

Email us with your stories HERE

Politicians will debate next year whether police officers who shoot people will have their names kept secret.

A private member's bill for name secrecy was pulled from a ballot at Parliament yesterday - one day after Senior Constable Keith Abbott was found not guilty of murdering Waitara man Steven Wallace.

The High Court jury verdict on Wednesday sparked a fierce ethical debate on whether police should have legal protection after shootings.

National MP Paul Hutchison's bill would fine media up to $20,000 for publishing the names of any officers being investigated by the Police Complaints Authority for shooting someone.

It is routine for the authority to investigate such shootings.

The only exceptions would be if the authority or the High Court allowed publication, or if the officer was charged with an offence related to the shooting.

The ban would stay in place until the end of the authority's investigation.

Police Commissioner Rob Robinson said he had raised the issue of private prosecutions of officers with the Government and hoped something could be done to stop a repeat of Mr Abbott's ordeal.

Police Association president Greg O'Connor urged a law change. He wanted officers to have the confidence to enter dangerous situations.

But the chairman of the Auckland Council for Civil Liberties, lawyer Graeme Minchin, said police were public servants, and the "servant should not have greater power than the master".

"The police have a very difficult job, but they are not conscripted," he said. "Everybody should be equal before the law."

Commonwealth Press Union New Zealand section chairman Gavin Ellis said the media were opposed to blanket name suppression except where it already existed to protect sex offence victims and minors.

Mr Ellis said the CPU's press freedom committee, which included print and broadcasting media, had agreed that the naming of a police officer who used lethal force would be of public interest only if there was a compelling reason for the officer to be made known. That would include the fact an officer had been charged, even if that arose from a private prosecution, he said.

"Once the charge is laid the manner in which it is laid is immaterial ... then it is for the court to determine."

Mr Ellis, who is also editor-in-chief of the New Zealand Herald, said that in 99 per cent of cases police officers' identities were not revealed.

The Herald first named Mr Abbott in October last year after two High Court judges ruled he should not have his name suppressed.

Police Complaints Authority Nearing 100% Clearance Target

WELLINGTON: The Police Complaints Authority has released figures today showing that they are nearing their 100 percent clearance target for the year till July. Police Commissioner Brian Watts was very pleased with the results.

Commissioner Watts, who once played the part of Bumbling Traffic Officer Number Three in Goodbye Pork Pie, hoped that a 100 percent clearance rate would reassure members of the Public that the Police were doing a successful job of clearing Police Officers from criminal charges.

The Police Complaints Authority was set up in the 1990's to deal with public complaints about the Police. The authority is made up of members of the New Zealand Police to fairly and impartially investigate complaints against other members of the New Zealand Police. The Commissioner went on to say that despite a few early hiccups, which resulted in officers actually being convicted, the New Zealand Police were very happy with the way that the Authority has been working over the past ten years.

03.04.2001

New Zealand police have spent more than $24 million investigating 9090 complaints about the behaviour and activities of its officers in the past five years.

More than 40 police officers have been suspended or forced to stand down from duty in the past year while they were investigated for alleged offences against police regulations.

The statistics were revealed today by Act MP Rodney Hide, who received the information from Police Minister George Hawkins in response to written parliamentary questions.

Since January 1 last year (2001), 44 police officers have been stood down or suspended for a total period of 5574 days.

Using a formula assuming that most people work about 220 days a year, Mr Hide said the days off work averaged out to about six months per officer.

The figures also show that a total of 334,617 hours, about 5 per cent of total productivity, were spent investigating complaints against police.

Mr Hide said he believed police officers were being stood down unnecessarily, which was a waste of taxpayer money and valuable resources.

Mr Hide gave the example of former senior police officer Brett Marsh, who last week was convicted in the Auckland District Court of drink driving.

The 47-year-old, who held the rank of superintendent, stood down from work after the incident on December 21 and has now quit the force.

"He has suffered terribly. But he did not need to be stood down for all those months. They could have found work for him in the office. He was a very senior police officer," said Mr Hide.

On the flip side, Mr Hide said "dopey" employment laws meant officers who had committed serious offences were paid until they were convicted, which could take some time.

"There's no sense of proportion or judg ment between what the impact on the public is versus the cost of the resource," said Mr Hide. "I'd like an assurance that we do have proper processes in place that take account of the cost to the taxpayer and the extreme lack of policing New Zealand has on the streets."

Police Association president Greg O'Connor said he believed each complaint involving a police officer should be judged on its merits.

"Often there is this allegation that police look after their own. But nothing could be further from the truth. The police just bend over backwards to be seen to be harsh on their own," said Mr O'Connor. "We would say there is room for more managing of the problem, instead of just automatically using the criminal justice system or disciplinary system."

Mr O'Connor said that as soon as there was any hint of an allegation, the officer was almost invariably stood down.

Police officers spend a significant amount of time off work waiting for an investigation or court case to be concluded.

But in some circumstances, they could have been put on other duties instead of being stood down, said Mr O'Connor.

In many cases officers were eventually acquitted but because of their time off work, they came back "different people."

"By the time they get back, many of them never really get back into policing. So it's a double waste," said Mr O'Connor.

"Nobody is in the business of keeping people in the police who shouldn't be here. But there is a fine line."

Mr O'Connor said police sometimes went overboard responding to complaints about officers.

An example of a commonsense approach in terms of judging the merit of an individual case, he said, was the action taken by Prime Minister Helen Clark over former ACC Minister Ruth Dyson, who was convicted of drink-driving.

Ms Dyson handed back her ministerial warrant but has continued work as an MP.

She is expected to be given her job back this year.

25.06.2001

The police face lawsuits seeking $45 million despite resolving others totalling nearly twice that in the past five years.

Of the $80.3 million in civil and staff-related claims resolved since the 1996-97 financial year, the police actually paid out just $2.8 million.

The figures were obtained by the Herald ahead of the latest police annual report, for the June year.

They show that there are 79 public lawsuits totalling $44.5 million and 28 staff-related claims worth just under $320,000 on the Contingent Liability Register.

The register, which updates continuously, is confidential because it contains information that is subject to court suppression orders.

The police national manager of legal services, Superintendent Dave Kerr, said he believed that the figures were reasonable, considering the police force had just under 9000 sworn and non-sworn staff who have contact with the public every day - some which can be confrontational.

"There's always going to be one party that's unhappy with the actions of the police - either the complainant unhappy that we can't find enough evidence ... or the offender who disagrees that we can find enough evidence," he said.

"It's the real nature of the business that we're at risk of contingent liabilities."

Aggrieved members of the public sue the police for many reasons, including alleged wrongful detention, arrest or search, breach of the Bill of Rights - and breach of contract, like the case of Mongrel Mob informant Anthony Hewison, who successfully claimed that the police had failed to hide him.

Mr Kerr said of the unresolved 79 claims still on the books: "Don't assume for a moment that every one of these is a genuine claim because we have all sorts of strange people come out of the woodwork."

The Contingent Liability Register used to be around $80 million about eight years ago but police are now dealing with these cases more aggressively, which is helping to keep the number down.

"We sort them more promptly ... We don't let them sit and lie on the dusty courtroom floors for yonks and then wonder why we struggle to remember what happened when we get into court."

Staff grievances also vary, ranging from police officers fighting to shift offices through to being sacked and their cases being later overturned by the courts.

The figures also show the police legal bill - including civil, employment, extradition and routine legal costs - for the five-year period has so far totalled about $5.8 million.

For this year, it is estimated to reach $1.9 million - three times what it was five years ago.

However, $800,000 of that is a special one-off budget for an ongoing case which has blanket suppression orders and multiple claimants.

The difference is similar to last year's bill of $1,186,360. The total police budget is nearly $1 billion.

High-profile personal grievance cases the police lost this year involve:

* Former Whangamata Sergeant Chris Cartwright, awarded $550,000 by the Employment Court after successfully suing for being bullied by superiors.

* Former police video producer George Brickell, awarded $242,000 for the after-effects of 15 years of filming grisly videos.

* Rex Hallinan, a former constable in Lincoln, Christchurch, and Geoffrey Benge, stationed at Otaki, who sued for lost income through early retirement and the mental and physical consequences of their work - and were awarded almost $500,000.

* Wellington dog handler Chris Moore, who won his job back after the Employment Court found he had been unfairly sacked. Reimbursement for earnings and costs have yet to be sorted out.

The police have appealed against the Hallinan, Benge and Moore decisions.

04.08.2001

A private investigator working for West Coast man John Menzies said further action would be taken against the police following a violent incident in July last year.

Private investigator Rob Nicholl has disputed Nelson Detective Inspector John Winter's comments that Mr Menzies' allegations of police brutality came to light only in May this year, 10 months after the incident.

Mr Winter headed a six-week police investigation into claims that four police officers were involved at the incident in Dunollie, 8km northeast of Greymouth, which left Mr Menzies with serious face and body injuries.

During Mr Menzies' trial this week on four charges of assaulting police and resisting arrest, his lawyer alleged that the officers kicked and beat him and rammed his head into a concrete pole.

Police alleged Mr Menzies assaulted Constable Terence Hunt, who was lying in wait for drink-drivers leaving the hotel in Dunollie.

Mr Menzies said he was simply walking home from the pub and had banged on the bonnet of a car parked in the dark on a side road he regarded as his own driveway, when a policeman jumped out and said he was under arrest.

The jury acquitted Mr Menzies on all charges.

Mr Hunt told the court he feared for his life as he tried to fend off a drunk and aggressive Mr Menzies with his baton, fists, torch, and pepper spray.

As Mr Hunt tried to handcuff him, they tussled on the ground.

The alleged beating happened when three back-up officers arrived from Greymouth and Mr Hunt told them he thought he was going to die.

Mr Menzies said he was then cuffed, picked up by three or four policemen, and driven head-first into a power pole.

Mr Winter said police had closed the case into allegations of police brutality and the police had not beaten Mr Menzies, who could not remember much of the incident.

He said Mr Menzies' injuries happened during a violent struggle with one officer whose actions had been justified.

Mr Nicholl, who served as a detective sergeant in the Greymouth CIB and spent more than 20 years in the police force, said what the police were saying was not correct.

"They have a vested interest in keeping it quiet. It is inevitable that we will be taking further action against the police."

Mr Winter said a thorough investigation had been completed into the incident and the police had been cleared of misconduct.

Police "steadfastly denied" kicking Mr Menzies on the ground or ramming him into the pole.

03.10.2002

A drug-crazed man set fire to a grave and screamed for police to come and get him before a constable shot him in the legs.

A witness said he heard the man yelling at police before the shooting at the Mangere Lawn Cemetery and Crematorium.

The man underwent surgery to "moderate" injuries at Middlemore Hospital, where he is under guard. He has not yet been charged with any offence. - What will the Police cook up!

A police inquiry headed by Detective Inspector Steve Rutherford is underway and the Police Complaints Authority has been advised. The constable who fired the shot is on leave.

The witness told the Herald yesterday that he was driving home from a supermarket after 9.30pm when he saw a bonfire in the cemetery grounds.

The witness, who would not be named, said he pulled over on Kirkbride Rd and called police on his cellphone.

Firefighters arrived within minutes and approached a cemetery gate, then backed off when met by a torrent of abuse.

Two police cars with three officers arrived. The witness said he could hear a man in the cemetery screaming abuse that covered "the whole spectrum of the language". The man seemed to be "off the planet".

The witness said the man yelled either "come here and ... kill me" or "come here and I'll ... kill you".

The police officers stood at the gate, then "all of a sudden they were all running inside. I'm not sure what started that. There was a great flurry at the gate".

The witness said he did not hear a gunshot.

Police said a 26-year-old Mangere man threatened and advanced on an acting sergeant and a constable, ignoring demands to lie on the ground. A constable with three years' experience shot the man close to both knees with a single bullet. The shot man was later handcuffed.

The witness said he did not see police do anything before the shooting that would have angered the man.

The officers were told while driving to the cemetery that they would be dealing with a man who had thrown Molotov cocktails at firefighters.

The commander of Counties Manukau police, Superintendent Ted Cox, said it now appeared the man did not throw Molotov cocktails.

When police arrived, the acting sergeant issued Glock pistols to himself and the constable, then gave "fire orders" - instructions on how to handle the weapons.

When asked if the constable aimed for the man's legs, Mr Cox said police were trained to aim at body mass. The officers were in a dark cemetery at night and it was "all very easy for armchair commentators to say things could have happened differently".

Mr Cox said the shot man's irrational behaviour appeared to have been fuelled by alcohol and drugs.

Ambulance staff said they were called at 10.19pm. They drove a "moderately injured" man to Middlemore Hospital, where he underwent surgery to his legs.

The cemetery is a wide, open space surrounded by hedges. It borders St Anthony's Church.

Six police officers were there yesterday. Flowers, vases and a statue of the Virgin Mary were scattered around the lawn. One headstone had been burned and smashed, just 10m from two fresh graves.

"We're taking it as read that all this mess was caused by him," one officer said.

Thirty metres from the damage was a bundle of clothes belonging to the shot man. Three metres from that lay a Glock bullet casing.

Lying nearby, in shallow grass, was a hammer.

Police Association president Greg O'Connor said experience did not seem to be an issue with Tuesday's shooting, which he believed was justified.

"From the briefings I've had, it was a good shot," Mr O'Connor said.

A cemetery manager said it was not clear why the man burned the headstone. There was no suggestion he had known the person buried there.

A police investigation is expected to take three weeks.

12.10.2000

Forty police officers have been charged with crimes including rape, assault and drink-driving or have faced formal disciplinary action on other matters this year.

Of those, 14 have appeared in court and 27 have faced internal charges of breaching police regulations such as neglecting duty, or misconduct.

Last year, 35 officers faced criminal charges or disciplinary action.

The issue of police discipline was raised yesterday at the Police Association conference in Wellington by Acting Deputy Commissioner Paul Fitzharris.

Mr Fitzharris said the number of police in trouble was too high.

"Integrity is an important part of who we are and what we do. While it's easy to overlook or rationalise some behaviour, any conduct that is inappropriate in the public's eyes certainly isn't becoming of the police."

Herald inquiries have revealed that four officers facing criminal actions and nine on police regulation matters have quit, or disengaged with their superannuation intact, this year. No one has been fired, but 17 cases are still pending.

If police are arrested, they face court proceedings, including the issue of being named, like anyone else. The Police Complaints Authority conducts a separate investigation.

For breaches of regulations, officers can either admit guilt or appear before a retired judge in the Police Tribunal.

Penalties include demotion, fines, reprimands or, in extreme cases, dismissal. These cases are confidential.

The police national manager of internal affairs, Superintendent Paul Nickalls, said each case had to be taken on its merits.

He said New Zealand compared well with overseas forces, but he did not have any figures.

Police Association president Greg O'Connor said criminals such as rapists, drug dealers and thieves had no place in the police.

But the association was concerned that police managers were too quick to jump on officers for minor matters or "grey areas" such as using excessive force in arrests.

Police Minister George Hawkins disagreed, saying public confidence in the force depended on police acting quickly and decisively in disciplinary matters.

This year, two officers are before the court on rape charges and another is being investigated for sex offences.

Constable Tyler Stephens, aged 25, of Auckland, is accused of a series of sex attacks on two women between 1997 and May this year. He has been suspended while the case is before the court.

Senior Constable Colin McLean, 36, of Mangakino, is charged with two counts of rape and three of assaulting three females in Mangakino, Tokoroa and Taupo between 1994 and 1999.

Other high-profile cases this year include disgraced Levin policeman Leon Gary Pigott, who was jailed for 18 months on drug charges.

15.05.2000

Police Complaints Authority - A Waste of time?

When the first word of an authority's name is police, there is fertile ground for confusion. The body can too readily be perceived to be part of the Police Department. When the procedures of that authority involve the police investigating complaints against themselves, the unfortunate link is strengthened. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the Police Complaints Authority has been fighting since its establishment in 1988 to convince the public of its independence.

It has been a losing battle. Public confidence in the authority has been eroded to such an extent that doubts about its impartiality, and cynicism about its findings, are widespread. The authority's use of police officers to investigate the shooting by a fellow policeman of Steven Wallace could just be the final straw.

Certainly, the strong feelings aroused by the Waitara shooting have persuaded the acting Minister of Justice, Margaret Wilson, that the authority needs to be reviewed. She will recommend that course to the minister, Phil Goff, when he returns from overseas. Any review would focus on two main issues. First, there is the authority's reliance on police officers to carry out investigations, a situation reflecting the authority's slimline $800,000 budget. The second focus would be the secrecy which pervades the authority's work.

Under its founding act, it is required to conduct inquiries "in private" and to "maintain secrecy." No statement made to the authority can later be used in a court case. Such secrecy, essentially to protect police officers, is clearly at odds with society's greater emphasis on openness and accountability.

To compound this culture, the authority issues few public reports. Last year, it released just four although it accepted 2076 complaints against police for investigation. Brief resumes of 30 others were included in its annual report. Such reticence is puzzling, given that the Police Complaints Authority Act gives it the right to publish reports on any case which it considers "in the public interest."

The ability to call upon its own investigators for major inquiries would be the quickest way to attack the perception that the authority has little option but to accept what the police say at face value. At the moment, the staff of the authority, Judge Jaine, includes a deputy authority, three investigative reviewers and the equivalent of three full-time secretaries. Independence for the authority would obviously entail a trebling or quadrupling of its budget. For the cost to be kept to reasonable proportions, police investigators would still be needed for all but the major crimes.

The Police Association wonders whether independent investigators would be as effective as police officers in getting to the bottom of complaints. Perhaps it also worries that over-zealous investigators could make the police tentative in their dealings with criminals. Overriding such concerns, however, should be a recognition that the police have a statutory requirement to cooperate with the authority.

It is also worth recalling that it is only two years since a police review suggested the Government should consider "enhancing the independent status of the authority," giving it the money it needed to carry out its own investigations. That recommendation, part of a cost-cutting drive, was not acted on.

The Waitara shooting has, however, heightened the climate of disillusionment. Clearly, the authority will capture public esteem only when it is able to call upon independent investigators. The expense need not be huge. Such investigators could be used only for serious crimes, perhaps those involving death or serious criminal charges. Their presence would provide not only a safeguard but the foundation for increased public confidence in the police. And for the police, there will surely be greater satisfaction spending more time catching criminals than investigating fellow-officers.

10.04.2001

A man is in a coma in hospital after being restrained by police officers during a disturbance in Auckland.

The 54-year-old was taken by ambulance to the Auckland Hospital emergency department after falling unconscious while police tried to restrain him about 7 pm on Sunday.

St John Ambulance staff said the man arrived at hospital in a critical condition. He is reported to be in a stable but serious condition and is still comatose.

Details of the incident are sketchy. Police have refused to reveal who the man is, describing him only as a Greenlane resident, and refused to say where the incident happened in Greenlane.

In 1994, an Auckland man died after being restrained by police following a disturbance.

Matthew Francis Innes, a 22-year-old psychiatric patient, died in hospital a week after he stopped breathing and lost consciousness in the back seat of a police car taking him to Kingseat Hospital.

Detective Senior Sergeant Andy Lovelock, the Auckland policeman investigating Sunday's incident, said officers were alerted by Greenlane residents who complained of a severely psychotic man on their property armed with a brick about 6.30 pm.

The man was initially restrained by three residents, one of whom was an off-duty police officer.

On-duty officers reached the scene about 6.50 pm.

Detective Senior Sergeant Lovelock said the man was struggling against those holding him, so attending police officers used handcuffs to restrain him.

He said the man was not placed in a police car during the incident.

"Shortly after he was restrained he lost consciousness.

"[He] was immediately uncuffed before CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation was carried out on him by police."

Ambulance staff were alerted about 7 pm and police staff continued to administer first aid until they arrived.

Senior police were notified and Detective Senior Sergeant Lovelock arrived at the scene to investigate about 8.30 pm.

The Police Complaints Authority was notified yesterday and is expected to begin an investigation this week.

Detective Senior Sergeant Lovelock said it was not clear whether the coma was caused by unreasonable force used by police in restraining the man or whether it was induced by a medical condition.

"We're looking into it ... That's exactly what the experts are trying to determine," he said.

"This investigation is to do with whether there are any criminal [actions] ... or any culpability with anyone and everyone involved, including the patient himself."

He said police had spoken to a number of witnesses, a few of whom had yet to be fully interviewed.

Auckland police spokeswoman Noreen Hegarty said the man's medical history would be investigated to check if he suffered from any condition.

She said the off-duty police officer became involved only by chance.

The injured man had apparently wandered through the officer's property.

Ms Hegarty said the off-duty officer helped two others to restrain the man until police arrived.

Detective Senior Sergeant Lovelock said the officers involved in the incident were still on normal duty.

13.05.2000

The Police Complaints Authority's use of police to investigate other officers - and its secret deliberations - face a high-level Government review.

Attorney-General Margaret Wilson, who is acting minister in charge of the authority, will suggest the review to Justice Minister Phil Goff, who is in Europe.

Debate about whether the present setup is sufficiently independent follows the shooting of Waitara man Steven Wallace by a policeman.

"My own recommendation personally would be that the time has come for an evaluation of the authority," says Margaret Wilson.

Any "evaluation" could also review the law requiring the authority to conduct all its investigations in secret.

Margaret Wilson has already said in the wake of the Wallace shooting that the Solicitor-General will review the police's own inquiry.

The authority's use of police investigators has been widely criticised by lawyers, civil liberties groups and people who have made complaints against the police.

Auckland barrister Barry Hart says the authority has "whitewashed" police errors and he advises his clients not to bother complaining to it.

Auckland Council for Civil Liberties chairman Barry Wilson says the authority has become "an arm of the police."

Christchurch lecturer David Small this week won damages of $20,000 against the police for searching his home in breach of the Bill of Rights Act, two years after the Police Complaints Authority was "unable to identify grounds on which to conclude that any police officer has been guilty of misconduct or neglect of duty" in the case.

Yesterday, the family of Edwin Leo, shot by police at Helensville last year, joined the fray, calling the use of officers to investigate fellow staff "fundamentally deficient."

Margaret Wilson says the authority, Judge Neville Jaine, is independent of the police "both in statute and in practice."

"It is misleading to characterise a Police Complaints Authority investigation as being no more than police investigating police.

"While the authority utilises serving police officers from a different region to gather information, the authority retains responsibility for the diligence and integrity of the investigation."

But she adds: "The question then arises as to whether or not that is seen as independent enough ... Maybe what is needed is a review of the authority from the point of view of saying that it's just one step removed [from the police]."

She draws a parallel with the Serious Fraud Office, which employs its own investigators - some recruited from the police and others from accounting and forensic backgrounds.

"The question becomes: is there sufficient work to justify that [independent staff to investigate police complaints]? I don't know the answer to that."

The authority received 2530 complaints in the past financial year and signs 40 final reports on complaints each week.

On secrecy, she says: "I can imagine that there are some instances in which, unless they had privacy, they wouldn't get the information they needed.

"You are balancing those legitimate considerations against the public right to know."

She adds that open justice "is a very important principle. At the same time, if you have everything public, nothing is revealed because there are legitimate issues of privacy and safety."

03.05.2000

When a person is shot and killed by another, particularly in a public place, the police are likely to issue some sort of account of the incident. When a person is shot by a police officer, however, commanders adopt a strict code of silence. The result can be that the only voices heard are those that question and criticise the actions of the police. So it has been, thus far, at Waitara where a young man was killed in the early hours of Sunday.

In the absence as yet of any explanation from the police, the shooting of 23-year-old Steven Wallace is especially troubling. The former student, unemployed, had plainly gone berserk about something, breaking all the windows at the Waitara fire station, driving to a supermarket and smashing its plate glass before moving to the police station and shattering all its windows. Then, when his car collided with a taxi on the main street, he took his golf club and softball bat and set off on foot, demolishing shop windows as he went. As a police car approached he smashed its window, too. A minute later he was dead.

What happened in that minute? Witnesses said the police patrol repeatedly urged him to drop the golf club and the bat. According to one, the woman who had called the police, Mr Wallace was "ranting and raving" and charging towards the officers when he was shot in the chest. Another witness reads the situation quite differently: "He had no gun. He had a baseball [bat] in one hand and a golf club in the other ... They should have waited for the dogs or something." And yet another, who was just metres away, says: "Steve threw down his weapons before he was shot ..."

At worst, a group of police were rushed by one crazed young man wielding two clubs. It is too easy to conclude that, facing no firearm and with the advantage of numbers, the officers ought to have been able to overpower him. Only they have any idea of the danger they believed they faced at the moment that one of them pulled the trigger. And their perception of the danger has not been disclosed. In fact, next to nothing has been explained from a police point of view.

There are, as always, proper investigations to be made, within the police to determine whether a prosecution is warranted, and outside the ranks by the Police Complaints Authority. Neither of those inquiries ought to cause the police to say nothing in the interim. Prosecutions proceed all the time unharmed by initial police accounts of a crime. And the officers' account to the Police Complaints Authority would surely not be tainted by their initial reports, provided those are truthful.

If tragic mistakes have been made, it is better that they are explained as quickly as possible. The mood in Waitara this week is not a healthy one. Almost every time a Maori is the victim if a police shooting there are irresponsible people prepared to paint the misfortune in racial tones. Maori must not be left to feel, however mistakenly, that the police would take less than usual care when confronting one of their sons. If anything should cause the police authorities to break their code of silence in a situation like this, it is the need to lay any such suggestion to rest.

This is just the 19th time in 60 years that a person has died at the hands of the New Zealand Police. It is not a trigger-happy force. This may turn out to be a case in which the outcome would have been happier had there been no firearm at hand. But, then, Constable Murray Stretch might be alive today had he been armed when he confronted an unarmed man in Mangakino not so long ago. We ask the police to tangle with people who can be dangerous armed or not, and with people in emotional states that might defy reasonable restraint.

On previous performance it could be up to a year before the Police Complaints Authority produces a proper explanation for what happened in the heat of a moment on Sunday morning. People need and deserve explanations now.

13.07.2002

An elderly Scottish tourist mistaken for a notorious bank robber and handcuffed at gunpoint is suing police for the bungled armed offenders squad raid.

Robert Fyfe and his wife Margaret were swooped on by police hunting Leslie Maurice Green, who robbed banks with a .44 Magnum in the early 1990s.

Lawyers debated pre-trial issues in the High Court at Wellington last month.

Court documents show that a former detective and a constable noticed Mr Fyfe in Otaki where he was staying with relatives in September 1993 and identified him as the fugitive bank robber.

As the Fyfes drove to Wellington Airport to fly home, the Wellington armed offenders squad forced them to pull over.

Mrs Fyfe had to lie face-down on the wet road and her husband was handcuffed at gunpoint.

It was not until they were being driven to the police station that police realised they had the wrong man.

The court papers show that while police believed Green was heading to Wellington for another hold-up, he was in fact in Auckland, where he was arrested later the same day.

The case is one of several in which innocent members of the public have been caught up in armed offenders squad operations.

At least three victims of bungled raids have attacked police strong-arm tactics and apparent reluctance to apologise.

Senior police admit their squads do get it wrong sometimes and there have been some cases against the police, but they do not believe there is a serious problem.

The Police Complaints Authority, Judge Ian Borrin, said he had not noticed any pattern of cases of mistaken identity.

Inspector Roger Honan, acting head of police internal inquiries, said he had not noticed any significant problem either.

Superintendent Neville Matthews, the national manager of operations, said that in most cases where mistakes were made the problem was with the information that the squads were working with.

"What we do in all these circumstances - and these things happen from time to time - is we go through a process of lessons to be learned," said Mr Matthews.

"The issue that has come out of that is that quite clearly we need good intelligence."

Mr Matthews said police were now much better at apologising when they got it wrong. "Perhaps some years ago we would say, 'Well, we're police. Tough.'

"When we do get it wrong, we take immediate steps to put it right - immediately release the person involved, make apologies and put it right.

"But it's better to err on the side of caution and apologise when you've got it wrong than to compromise public safety. Bear in mind these things have to be weighed up in a heartbeat."

This year, innocent people have been at the centre of armed callouts at least twice.

West Auckland printing worker Sam He was bashed in the face when police raided his home in search of two kidnappers in early April.

The kidnappers lived in the same house as Mr He, but police broke down his door at 4am and punched him when they thought he was grabbing for an officer's gun. He received an apology.

A Christchurch man remains angry at the way he was treated.

Paul Goldsmythe was watching television on a Sunday night last month when he was rung on his cellphone and told that he was surrounded by armed police.

Hysterical and confused about what was going on, he followed instructions to go outside with his arms up.

There was nobody there. Police had the wrong cellphone number - they were surrounding another house in a neighbouring suburb.

Mr Goldsmythe said he was so upset by what had happened, he had been unable to sleep.

Now he feels angry about how he has been dealt with since the incident, saying he has not even received a proper apology.

"The least they could have done is come around and say sorry," said Mr Goldsmythe.

"They need to be pulled into check."

03.11.2001

Police in Whangarei are defying a judge's criticism of their methods of interviewing crime suspects.

The city's police, under investigation after accusations of excessive force, are holding dummy-run sessions with suspects before they conduct on-camera interviews.

A Herald investigation has found that officers are still using the system they call "rapport building" despite at least two confessions being thrown out of court because threats or inducements were found to have been made.

The Herald found that the number of complaints about police methods, including alleged assaults, is growing by the week.

But senior Whangarei officers do not accept that staff may be overstepping the mark.

One senior detective, whose own interviewing methods have been questioned, said the night-time scene in the city was "like a zoo".

At a public meeting this week, the area controller for Whangarei, Inspector Paul Dimery, angrily blamed lax parents, lawyers looking to make money and the media for the criticism of his officers.

At police national headquarters, Commissioner Rob Robinson has ordered an internal inquiry into the alleged assaults, and Detective Superintendent Larry Reid of Wellington has been in Whangarei talking to complainants.

His interim report found "matters that warrant further inquiry", and his investigation is continuing.

The inquiry was started after a district court judge last month found that two teenagers accused of assaulting police acted in self-defence.

Mr Dimery told the Herald yesterday that he rejected the finding.

Judge John Hole ruled that Amanda Drake, aged 19, and her boyfriend, Rohin Smith, 17, used reasonable force when they reacted to what he considered an unwarranted assault by Sergeant Clifford Metcalfe.

Mr Dimery said yesterday: "I totally object ... I was in the court, I heard the evidence and, yes, I do reject the finding of Judge Hole."

At the public meeting on Thursday, Mr Dimery angrily accused a group of lawyers who have formed the Whangarei Criminal Bar Association to monitor police behaviour of levelling allegations against his staff without evidence.

He said he was dismayed that the group, which is offering free consultations to people who say police have assaulted them, seemed to think the town had a group of brutal officers.

He said a list of officers' names was circulating.

He later told the Herald he believed the lawyers were trying to drum up publicity to get more business and exploit the legal aid programme.

Mr Dimery also blamed the Herald for an attack on two officers in Dargaville last weekend. He said the attack was a direct result of the paper's "biased" report last month on Judge Hole's decision.

"It gives everybody out there who reads it carte blanche to say, 'If you want to take the police on, jump up and down, scream, then you can do whatever you like to the police'."

Mr Dimery accused parents of letting children, some as young as 10, run riot. "There is a very small element in Whangarei that are causing major havoc, fuelled by alcohol and lack of parental supervision - those are the two huge problems up here ... There is a certain element that take great pleasure in taking the police on."

The head of the criminal investigation branch, Detective Senior Sergeant Marty Ruth, said: "I've used excessive force, I'm human ... but a lot of guys are running around with their brains full of meth (methamphetamine) wanting to fight. This is not the cafe set in Ponsonby we're talking about ... It's a bloody zoo."

Roger Bowden, a lawyer representing four people making complaints of excessive force by police, said there was a "cowboy culture" within Whangarei police and officers seemed to have forgotten what their role was.

He said they seemed hell-bent on getting confessions out of people "come what may" instead of using proper investigating techniques.

"If you come on hard right from the beginning you get results," he said. "They have a good [crime] clearance rate but the manner in which they achieve it needs to be readdressed."

In a 1999 judgment obtained by the Herald this week, Justice Robert Fisher criticised Detective Senior Sergeant Ruth's tactic of conducting "dummy-run" interviews off camera.

He said video-recording, introduced in 1989, was a "disincentive against impropriety and a powerful protection to the police" and it was folly not to use it.

Detective Senior Sergeant Ruth defended his tactics, saying many criminals did not like to be video-recorded and they could not be compelled to accept it.

"We're not changing a god-damned thing ... There is no written rule that says you have to frog-march someone in and make a movie."

Detective Senior Sergeant Ruth said there was nothing unusual about interviews being ruled inadmissible at pre-trial hearings.

"It goes on all over the country every day. That's what the judge is there for."

During investigations this week, the Herald heard of at least 10 cases where Whangarei police have allegedly used threats or violence.

They include:

* Kohukohu volunteer firefighter Peter Krippner, 32, says he was pepper-sprayed at point-blank range in the face in police cells while handcuffed. Cannabis charges laid against him were later dropped.

* A Whangarei teenager has laid a complaint with the Police Complaints Authority alleging officers punched and threatened him after a traffic incident involving a policeman's fiancee.

* The mother of a 14-year-old boy has complained to the complaints authority that her son was beaten, strip-searched and hit in the face with a baton when being questioned about an alleged burglary. No charges were laid against him.

* A middle-aged man says he had three ribs broken and was pepper-sprayed while handcuffed after his arrest during a domestic incident.

* A man caught urinating in a Whangarei street says a group of officers forced him to the ground and "crunched" his head on the ground, before kicking him into a police car

19.10.2001

A detective superintendent will be appointed to investigate the Whangarei police after allegations that officers have assaulted people.

There has been public concern about the allegations and a court case involving two teenagers charged with assaulting police but who were found to have acted in self-defence.

Police confirmed that seven assault complaints have been made against officers in Whangarei and referred to the Police Complaints Authority this year.

A group of lawyers in the city has formed a group to monitor police behaviour.

The pending internal police inquiry, headed by an officer yet to be appointed, could start today after Deputy Commissioner Steve Long decided that action was needed.

Police spokesman Michael Player said: "We just want to tidy it up and have a look at it."

Once the report is finished, it would be sent to the Police Complaints Authority for review.

About 140 police serve the Whangarei and Kaipara region.

The detective superintendent most likely to head the inquiry would be Jim Millar, of the Southern region, or Larry Reid, of the Central region.

The inquiry follows a ruling by District Court Judge John Hole last week that two teenagers acted in self-defence when struggling with officers in central Whangarei.

The young man and woman had been charged with assaulting police after a scuffle in the town in July but the judge found police carried out an unwarranted assault on the female.

Northland district commander Superintendent Viv Rickard has asked the Police Complaints Authority to investigate the actions of the officer involved.

Statements have also been made by the group of Whangarei lawyers that a core group of police were violent.

The lawyers aim to protect their clients' civil rights.

Spokeswoman Kim Cohen said: "There are a group of names that keep popping up."

In other incidents, an officer quit in August and was charged with breaking into the police station cells and assaulting a prisoner.

Two Kohukohu men have also alleged they were assaulted, and one pepper-sprayed at point-blank range, while in the Whangarei cells.

The Northern Advocate reported last month that a Whangarei teenager laid a complaint with the Police Complaints Authority, alleging he was punched and threatened by officers after a traffic incident involving a policeman's fiancee.

Mr Rickard said police would accept criticism where it was due but asked the public to keep an open mind and wait for the facts.

"There are issues and if we need to take direct action we will."

He said Whangarei had recently had a 20 per cent increase in violent crime and police had had to deal with the introduction of 24-hour licensed premises.

Many people in the early hours acted differently to their daytime behaviour.

14.12.2001

Police have been told to stop relying on their pistols and rethink how they use force.

The advice is part of a sweeping review of their practices in violent situations.

A report obtained by the Herald under the Official Information Act recommends that police review their use of the sleeper hold, stop turning to their Glock pistols as the first resort and make better use of rifles and new alternative weapons such as the Taser stun gun.

The report was ordered by the Deputy Commissioner in charge of operations, Steve Long, after the shooting of Steven Wallace in Waitara last year.

Victoria's Assistant Commissioner, Ray Shuey, was brought in to work with Auckland-based Detective Superintendent Peter Marshall on the review in June this year. Their report warns of an increasing prevalence of guns in the force which "raises the possibility of 'organisational creep' resulting in the New Zealand Police suddenly waking up to the fact that it is essentially armed in the practical sense".

Mr Long yesterday told the Herald he was comfortable with the report and had ordered senior staff to implement some recommendations.

He denied the review was secret: "I just wanted it done out of the public glare."

The recommendations include:

* Police should make more use of the .223 Remington rifle. The 9mm Glock pistols should be replaced with the 10mm version that has better "stopping power".

* The sleeper, or carotid hold, should be reconsidered as a legitimate use of force.

* The Armed Offenders Squad should be renamed the "Tactical Response Group" and given greater responsibilities. A fulltime squad in Auckland should be considered.

* Officers who use lethal force in major incidents should be immediately breath-tested for alcohol.

* Police should give their "full support" to establishing a national database to track and analyse all use of force by or against police.

The project is due for completion next year.

Mr Shuey has an international reputation for his work with the Victorian Police, helping the force shed a "trigger-happy" reputation for shooting dead far more civilians than any other police force in Australia.

The review aims to bring all police procedures and policies in line with the Project Beacon philosophy of "maximise safety, minimise risk" by giving police more options in critical situations through training, command and control, support and an increased range of weaponry.

The report also recommends having all serious incidents involving criminally liable use of force by the police reviewed by officers from out of the district.

It say the community and police officers are becoming increasingly litigious in holding the police accountable for any non-compliance with health and safety law.

Police Association president Greg O'Connor said he had read only a summary of the report, which he considered common sense.

But he was wary of the breath-test plan: "As soon as you have a test that shows there is alcohol present, then all of a sudden it becomes the biggest issue no matter how relevant it is."

13.12.2001

A district court judge has warned the police that they risk having cases thrown out of court if they do not videotape interviews of suspects. NOTE: Probably because they don't want there officers caught on tape them bashing the suspects into confession !

Judge Fred McElrea issued his warning as he discharged a teenage girl who made a false confession during police questioning.

He has ordered that a copy of his remarks about the police "mishandling" of the case be sent to the local police commander and those looking at police investigation methods.

Leaia Lisa Mataia, of Avondale, represented by Sanjay Patel, had admitted in an interview to throwing a Molotov cocktail at the house of a woman she disliked in March.

At the police station she denied the attempted arson several times.

Following submissions in the Auckland District Court by Mr Patel that the admissions were not true and were not made voluntarily, Judge McElrea ruled the girl's confession inadmissible and threw out the charge of attempted arson.

The judge said that the only record of the interview was a handwritten statement by one of two officers who interviewed the girl.

One of the officers, 11 months in the job, said she had done about 100 interviews but had never used a video and had not been encouraged to by her superiors.

Judge McElrea said the police deserved criticism that an officer could interview 100 people, none of them on video.

"It would suggest that the police, in West Auckland at least, have decided that they can have a better chance of getting confessions out of people if they are not on video.

"If that is the view - and I stress 'if' - it is a dangerous and false one."

The judge said it could lead to situations where the courts were not able to determine whether a statement had been made voluntarily.

There was a risk that people would be convicted on statements that should not be admitted or where the defence was not able to establish without a video that the statement was inadmissible.

"If the consequence of avoiding videos is that some innocent persons are convicted, then that is a very heavy price for society to pay for an increase in the number of convictions.

"The other risk is that guilty people will avoid conviction because of the lack of a reliable record of their confessions."

The judge said that an "off-the-record" discussion in which one of the officers had raised the issue of a "bomb" was not recorded, nor were "questions of clarification" from the other officer.

Indeed none of that officer's questions were recorded.

"The record is inadequate, it is unreliable and this is one of the consequences that the police face if they are not prepared to use videos.

"If there is a contest between two versions of what happens in a police interview, and the police have had the opportunity to use a video and have chosen not to do so, they run the very real risk that I or any other judge will say, 'If they are not prepared to use a video, I am not prepared to rely on their record,' at least where there is evidence indicating that the record is incomplete.

"There is certainly such evidence in this case and I do not believe it is a reliable record ...

"If this is general practice, then the police are not doing their jobs as they are required to."

Judge McElrea said the evidence in the case was patently unreliable.

The interview showed that the girl was responding to suggestions.

"Even if I was not satisfied that the confession was false, I am satisfied that the tactics used by the police ... resulted in a statement which was not voluntary and which it would be quite unfair to admit."

Police were not available for comment on the case last night.

23.11.2001

The police officer who shot a man in Christchurch on Wednesday would be feeling significant pressure regardless of last year's Waitara shooting, a police chief said yesterday.

The policeman shot Jason Williams, aged 32, of Motueka, at close range on a suburban Christchurch street.

Williams had allegedly been wielding a machete and had advanced on police after they blocked his car.

Two police officers remained in hospital after receiving concussion, head injuries and broken ribs when their car crashed into a pole.

Williams, whose 5-year-old daughter, Racheal Whanga, died in a house fire at Granity on the West Coast on November 1, is in a serious but not life-threatening condition.

Canterbury police commander Superintendent John Reilly said the officer who shot Williams had more than 15 years' experience, but would be feeling the pressure.

He said the shooting in Waitara would not affect how the officer was feeling.

A constable shot dead 23-year-old Steven Wallace in the Taranaki town in April last year. Police said Wallace was advancing on the officer with a golf club and a softball bat.

A police investigation cleared him of any wrongdoing. However, he has now been named publicly and faces a private murder prosecution over the shooting.

Mr Reilly said any police officer who had shot a member of the public would feel "significant pressure".

"It is not something that any police officer that I have ever come across looks forward to.

"The very nature of the event of actually having to fire a shot at a person and wounding them is not something that is giving anybody, least of all the officer that fired the shot, any pleasure.

"These sort of circumstances place any police officer involved in it - no matter whether there are previous events in recent history or in the long-past history - under a significant amount of pressure and scrutiny."

Williams rang police less than half an hour before he was shot, warning they would have to shoot him.

Two women had driven with Williams to Christchurch.

One was Williams' partner, who drove the car from Rangiora, and the other was her friend.

After emerging from the car Williams allegedly held the machete above his head in a threatening gesture and advanced on police, who included four armed officers.

The Police Complaints Authority and police have started separate investigations.

Police said Williams had been seen drinking alcohol during the day and they understood he had been distressed about his daughter's death.

They have not yet spoken to him.

28.02.2000

A woman who went to the police in fear of her estranged husband returned home to her death - with police officers close behind her.

Her death, from multiple stab wounds, has sparked a Police Complaints Authority investigation after suggestions that the officers arrived in time to witness the murder in New Lynn on Saturday afternoon.

The investigation will ask why the officers allowed the woman to go back into her house knowing her partner was there, and why they were unable to save her.

Last night, there were allegations from within the police of a cover-up after the stabbing.

The circumstances were fudged in a media release, and last night the Waitakere police were refusing to comment further.

There were conflicting reports from police sources on how much the officers saw. One source said the stabbing happened in front of them; another said they saw only part of the incident.

One officer said there would be serious questions asked about the handling of the incident. He alleged that there had been an attempt to "hush up" the fact that police were present.

The Herald has learned that the 34-year-old victim, Jian Huang, went to the New Lynn police station on Saturday after her estranged husband arrived at her Ambrico Place home and threatened to take their 5-year-old son, Maijie.

It is understood that two police cars followed her back to her new, three-level terraced home about 3.30 pm.

Mrs Huang's husband allegedly lunged at her with a knife and stabbed her several times.

An ambulance rushed her to Auckland Hospital, where she died of her injuries that night.

A 41-year-old man has been charged with murder.

Mrs Huang separated from her husband several months ago and had taken out a court protection order against him.

It is understood that Maijie's life was threatened after his mother was stabbed. The boy is now in Social Welfare care.

The second-in-command of the case, Detective Sergeant Gary Davey, put out a statement at 5 am yesterday saying police had found a woman with stab wounds after being called to the address.

The officer in charge of the case, Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Franklin, would not return the Herald's call last night. A colleague said Senior Sergeant Frankin had nothing further to add.

The duty officer at Waitakere police station, Senior Sergeant Chris Maude, said that officers had seen "part" of the incident but not the stabbing.

A police spokeswoman later phoned the Herald and said: "It's before the court. We won't be commenting at all on who was there and who saw what."

Police had a patrol car and scene guard stationed outside the victim's home yesterday, and a lone detective was doing forensic examinations inside.

Neighbours told the Herald that Mrs Huang and her husband had had several heated arguments before they separated.

They came to New Zealand from Shanghai about three years ago. One woman said the husband had been out of work but there always seemed to be plenty of money around. She said he spent a lot of money gambling.

She said Mrs Huang had no family in New Zealand, and Maijie was her whole world.

One woman said she noticed two police cars parked outside the home on Saturday afternoon, but did not think anything of it. She was stunned to hear her friend had been stabbed to death, allegedly with police present.