3. JILL PETTIS (Labour) Link to this
to the Minister of Police
What reports has she received that show what progress is being made on achieving the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct?
Hon ANNETTE KING (Minister of Police) Link to this
I have seen the latest New Zealand Police quarterly update, which provides a snapshot of the continual work in progress towards full implementation of all the commission of inquiry’s recommendations. Since April 2007 police have continued to make good progress. In the last 3 months, three recommendations have been fully completed, and another three recommendations have been partially completed. To ensure transparency, any New Zealander can follow the progress towards full implementation via the quarterly reports published on the New Zealand Police website.
Given the importance Dame Margaret Bazley placed on changes to the police regulations and the introduction of a police code of conduct, can the Minister provide information on when these will be introduced?
Yes, these key recommendations in the commission of inquiry report—the changes to the regulations and the draft code of conduct—have now been approved by Cabinet. I am confident that the new regulations will be gazetted later this year. The draft code of conduct will take effect from 1 January 2008 when the new regulations come into force. I think this will be important progress towards confidence in the New Zealand Police.
Chester BorrowsDoes she agree with the view of at least one officer who said: “Why can management teach ethics to officers but it doesn’t apply to seniors… when you see what’s going on in the top end”, in reference to the fact that human resources general manager, Wayne Annan, has been caught out sanitising police recruit data by omitting the test results of poorly performing recruits, proving that there is still a problem with conduct at the top end?
I would suggest to that member that he waits until the report into police standards is completed; that accusation has been refuted by Mr Annan. In terms of integrity at the top echelons of the police, I believe that there is integrity, and ethics. If we look at where some of the problems have been, we see that they have not been just in the top echelon; they have been with older members of the police, and they were issues that were raised going right back into the 1970s and 1980s. The commission of inquiry is addressing those issues, and I have confidence that they will be addressed. The New Zealand Police will have the respect that they deserve for the work they do on behalf of New Zealanders.
Ron MarkCan the Minister tell the House when we can expect to see the report regarding the human resources general manager, Wayne Annan, given that the allegations against him are extremely serious; and has Mr Annan or, indeed, the police commissioner been fulsome and wholesome with her in terms of revealing Mr Annan’s complete history thus far?
The report will be provided to the police by the end of September—so there are only another couple of weeks to go. In terms of Mr Annan, I tell the member that I have not had contact with him about what he wrote. That is being looked at by the review panel and in the report we will receive. I will leave it up to the independent report to provide me with that, so that New Zealanders have the assurance they need about recruitment standards being what they should be.
Can the Minister provide any other information on initiatives under way to prevent or investigate police misconduct in the future?
Yes. Any instance of serious misconduct is now reported quickly and personally to the police commissioner. This ensures that any investigative decisions, such as, for example, a conflict of interest, are properly made and nationally consistent. Personnel systems have also been enhanced to enable supervisors to identify and deal with patterns of problem behaviour and to provide an early warning system. The best safeguard against misconduct, however, is a police culture that rejects it. I think that part of that is a code of conduct for New Zealand police, which has not been in place in this country ever. It will be a first, and long overdue.
Simon PowerAs the member knows, that is not an issue that the Minister of Police deals with, but I am informed that it is progressing through the channels it must go through under the old system that exists now, and hopefully a resolution of that issue will be in the near future. One of the reasons there is a change to the regulations, which I have announced today, is to ensure that the slow progress we see in dealing with some of these disciplinary cases does not occur in the future and that they can be dealt with in a much more speedy fashion.