Debate on Crown Entities, Public Organisations, and State Enterprises — Police Complaints Authority

Tēna koe. Kia ora tātou katoa. Being the first Māori woman to be appointed Justice of the High Court, and the first Māori woman to be appointed as Queen’s Counsel was a huge honour for Justice Lowell Goddard, and a credit to her distinguished legal career—and the fact that she is from up north—but taking over the Police Complaints Authority last year was always going to be a whole new ball game. In stepping up to that task Justice Goddard said that two of her main goals were to ensure the integrity of the New Zealand Police and restore public confidence in the police. That is a helluva job, given the Bazley report last year damning the culture of police arrogance, the Louise Nicholas case, the recent high visibility trials of police rape and abuse, and the fact that Māori generally do not bother complaining to the Police Complaints Authority because they know that cops lie for one another and always get off.

The Law and Order Committee, though, tells us that Justice Goddard is out there trying to do an extreme make over of the authority from being just a club to jack up excuses for bad cops, to being a more proactive and investigative unit. The authority is doing a big clean-up of old files and trying to put in place systems to deal with inefficiencies and unnecessary work. We are glad about moves to monitor the life of a complaint, particularly given the many complaints we have had from Māori that the process of laying a complaint is tough enough without it being dragged on forever, giving the impression that the police have no intention of actually dealing with the complaint at all.

We are also encouraged by the authority wanting to focus on matters of high public interest, like serious harm, deaths in custody, corruption, serious neglect, and misconduct. But we are concerned about suggestions that the authority refers complaints of bad attitude back to the police to handle, when clearly there are a lot of complaints of that nature and people are not likely to be convinced that the police are the best people to deal with them.

It was also interesting to note the fact that the select committee met with Justice Goddard just before she met with Tūhoe to discuss their complaints about the police terror raids last year, yet they barely mentioned it in their report, which is strange considering that apart from the police rape trials the police terror raids were the most high profile of all complaints in 2007. It is worth noting, too, that although 40 people have already been interviewed, and 10 more are due to come up, the Police Complaints Authority is still keen to talk to anyone else who was arrested, stopped, photographed, held at gun-point, or has any other complaints concerning police misconduct during those terror raids on Tūhoe in 2007, which suggests that the matter is far from over. So although the select committee has chosen to ignore this investigation, the Māori Party will be following it closely to ensure that the deplorable, offensive, and totally unacceptable treatment of the people of Tūhoe is not swept under the carpet in the way past police complaints have been.

Following on from the Tūhoe situation, interestingly, it was also worth noting Justice Goddard’s comments about the success of the Police Ombudsman’s role in Northern Ireland, which is particularly relevant given the hatred of the Catholic population towards what has traditionally been a Protestant-run police force, the Royal Ulster Constabulary. A recent independent survey stated that 80 percent of both Protestants and Catholics felt that complaints against the police would be treated fairly, as well as, surprisingly, did 85 percent of those police officers investigated by the office—quite an amazing statistic, given the historic enmity between the different sectors of the Northern Ireland community and clearly a model worth looking at for us here.

We also note the Law and Order Committee’s decision not to mention the new statement guiding the Police Complaints Authority—whāia te pono kia puāwai ko te tika: seek out justice and let the truth prevail. We mention it here, and we wish Justice Goddard and her team strength, courage, and fortitude in the pursuit of their philosophy and in the challenges that lie ahead of them. Tēna koe.

I welcome the comments made by the previous speaker, Hone Harawira, and I welcome his observations. It is true that Justice Goddard has an ambitious plan to improve and strengthen the Independent Police Conduct Authority, and it is true that a good deal of progress has been made. I am very pleased to be able to report to the Committee that the number of outstanding files has been greatly reduced—620-odd aged files that could have been classified as a backlog have been closed during the period of February 2007 to February 2008, and this is in addition to the ongoing processing of all current files. The number of complaints that have been referred to the Independent Police Conduct Authority has continued to fall in the last quarter—a drop of about 98.

Mr Harawira also made the point that the commission under Justice Goddard intends to be proactive and independent. It is also true, as he pointed out, that the Independent Police Conduct Authority wants to ensure that the New Zealand public has a strong and justified perception of the integrity and the culture of our police force. The authority wants to take big issues very seriously and investigate them very thoroughly.

I am pleased to be able to report to the Committee that the Independent Police Conduct Authority has had strengthening in terms of resources. It has more investigators, a media liaison person, and a chief executive, and in addition to all of this it is the Government’s intention to strengthen the authority even further. The Government intends to introduce a bill that will enable the authority to conduct its own motion inquiries. That means it will not have to wait and rely upon someone to make a complaint. If the authority feels that something is wrong, then it will be able to do something about it itself. Further, the results of an authority investigation will be able to be used in subsequent proceedings in certain circumstances, and, importantly, the authority investigators will have all the powers necessary to fulfil the authority’s enhanced functions.

The final point, which I think will be the most interesting and most telling, is that in the future the authority will have the responsibility and authority to make prosecution decisions in authority-led investigations. All of this sets out to strengthen the independence and the confidence that the public can have in the Independent Police Conduct Authority.

I reaffirm what Mr Harawira said: that Justice Goddard and a number of the authority did go and speak with Tūhoe directly as part of the authority’s investigation of the complaint laid by the people of Tūhoe. I think that is a very important step. It shows that Justice Goddard is a person who will have a hands-on approach, will lead from the front, and will be very directive about this. By being on the marae and hearing people voice their concerns with all the passion, the feeling, and the anger that they felt, she could hear at first hand what the people felt rather than read it in a report. I commend her for doing that, and I think it is a very, very positive move.

However, with all these things the proof will be in the pudding. I am fully aware that the Independent Police Conduct Authority recognises that people will judge it on the quality of its reports and the quality of its actions. No one thinks that the New Zealand Police are above criticism. Of course, people are right to have those criticisms, but the criticisms should be constructive and they should be justified. There will be no placing of confidence in the police if we are to have unconstructive, irresponsible criticism of the police.

We want to have a police force that we can look to with pride and with confidence, and to know that it is independent and will do an outstanding job for our country. This has, in fact, been the case with almost every facet of the activities of the New Zealand Police. The Independent Police Conduct Authority is there to ensure that we have the independence and oversight of the New Zealand Police force we need to ensure public confidence in the integrity and the strength of the New Zealand Police. I think that we can look forward to seeing good reports in the future that will give justice and substance to those beliefs.

Report noted.

Progress reported.

Report adopted.