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

The Law and Order Committee undertook the financial review of the Independent Police Conduct Authority, noting that Sir David Carruthers took over as chair of the Independent Police Conduct Authority at the end of the reporting period, replacing Justice Lowell Goddard. In his evidence to the committee, Sir David Carruthers commended Justice Goddard for the work that she had done for the authority in the previous 5 years, generating several significant reports, which came to public attention in this reporting period.

The Independent Police Conduct Authority provides an independent check and scrutiny on police, which Police Commissioner Peter Marshall acknowledges as having a very positive impact on both the trust and the confidence ratings of our New Zealand Police, and that is a matter that is of the utmost interest and importance to us in New Zealand and us in Parliament.

The Independent Police Conduct Authority gets around 2,000 complaints a year. Those complaints are triaged within the authority, which means that it has a look at the potential severity of each and every complaint, and those complaints are then allocated a rating between 1 and 5. The flow of complaints to the Independent Police Conduct Authority ranges from being not really complaints at all, and a little bit marginal about whether the authority should indeed look at them any further, in which case they are referred back to the police, through to categories 1 and 2, which are the most serious. Those categories might be incidents of death, serious injury, or serious misconduct, which take the majority of the Independent Police Conduct Authority’s time and resources. I believe that something like 80 percent of the authority’s time and resources are given over to those most serious complaints.

Having said that, the Independent Police Conduct Authority acknowledges that it frequently conducts an extended assessment of any complaint, especially when that complaint comes from someone who appears to be, perhaps, vulnerable to them in one way or another. These people are frequently those very same people who turn up in our electorate offices, and their complaint or concern can be in need of independent scrutiny. That is a most valuable function of the Independent Police Conduct Authority. Personally, I have had a number of people through my electorate office whose complaints I have referred on to the Independent Police Conduct Authority for further investigation—I am not the judge. It is encouraging that those complaints are taken seriously.

Highlights of the year in review include the opening of 47 investigation files on the most serious matters brought to the Independent Police Conduct Authority’s attention. There were 14 public reports released during the year as a result of those investigations. These reports include the major thematic review on the police detention of young people. New Zealand Police has accepted all of the recommendations made in that report, and the Independent Police Conduct Authority has set up a review team from within its body and will review progress against those recommendations. That is a really useful and focused approach to these reports, which do not merely sit on police shelves. The Independent Police Conduct Authority takes a continuing interest in them, as, indeed, does the Office of the Auditor-General and the Law and Order Committee.

There was also a major report on deaths in police custody. Again, this is another report authored by the Independent Police Conduct Authority that is being looked at with interest not only by New Zealand Police but also by agencies such as the Law and Order Committee. There have been a number of major reports—12—into individual fatal police pursuits, a police shooting, and an incident with a member of the public and a police vehicle. Another highlight of the year in review includes the fact that less than 1 percent of complaint files were reopened due to an expression of dissatisfaction with the result of that case. That is a pretty good result.

Financially, the Independent Police Conduct Authority showed a surplus of $0.106 million. Thank you.

Report noted.

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