KEY POINTS:
The Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct reviewed 313 complaints of sexual assault against 222 police officers between 1979 and 2005.
Of these 141 were regarded as containing sufficient evidence on which to lay criminal charges or undertake some sort of disciplinary action.
There were also 61 allegations
against 43 associates of the police, of which 39 resulted in charges or warnings.
The complaints came from those who directly approached the commission and through a trawl through police records.
The report showed that the author of the report Dame Margaret Bazley and the police quibbled about how the number of complaints should be counted.
This was because some complaints against officers sometimes covered a single incident with multiple officers and multiple complaints from individuals.
The outcome of the complaints was as follows:
* Criminal charges were laid against 32 officers or former officers as a result of 45 complaints. This resulted in 10 offenders being convicted of sexual assault, 20 accused were acquitted and two officers committed suicide before cases could be heard;
* There were 93 complaints against 48 police officers resulting in internal discipline. Of these 22 were subject complaints being referred to a disciplinary tribunal hearing, 12 officers' cases went to a hearing and ten of these had complaints proven against them. Nine resigned prior to a hearing and the rest were dealt with lower level sanctions;
* Three complaints against three officers were resolved under the police sexual harassment policy;
* Four officers subject to five complaints resigned during the investigation;
* Thirteen complaints from nine complainants against 12 officers were found to be false;
* Two complaints were investigated but subsequently withdrawn by the complainant.
*T here were 152 complaints against 129 officers that were not upheld. This meant that there was not sufficient evidence to take criminal or disciplinary action, not that the allegation was false or lacked substance.
Dame Margaret said the evidence demonstrated there were instances where officers had abused the trust placed in them.
These included:
* In 1993 a complainant had been stopped for a minor traffic offence and was indecently assaulted by an officer. He initially denied the complaint, but later admitted it and resigned from the police;
* In 1995 an officer dealing with a domestic incident, returned to the scene of the complaint and indecently assaulted the woman involved. He was later dismissed from the force. The complainant said she had been subjected to persistent visits in which the officer sexually touched her. She had at one point thought about "giving in" -- "I actually thought that by giving him sex he would go away and leave me alone."
* Several cases involved women held in custody in police cells. One officer was convicted of sexual violation after he told a woman she would go to prison and lose custody of her son if she did not comply with his wishes;
* In 1984 there were two complaints of indecencies committed against women in police cells that were not upheld because of insufficient evidence despite the investigating officer saying "I have no hesitation in saying this complaint is genuine";
* Submitter "E" told the commission that in 1996 an officer had a sexual relationship with her while her husband was facing charges arising from a domestic incident. The officer retired on medical grounds before he could be disciplined.
* Two complainants in the mid-1990s had a sexual relationship with an officer while subject to the diversion process.
* A teenager placed in the care of an officer was subjected to sexual abuse and assault and due to inadequate handling of her complaint no charges were ever laid;
* In 1991 a 14-year-old boy complained of indecent assault by an officer who committed suicide before the matter went to court;
* A woman with the mental age of a 12 year old entered into a sexual relationship with an officer while she was doing volunteer work. The officer was reprimanded.
* In 1984 a schoolgirl who did work experience with the police was taken out on patrol and had sex with one officer while another watched. The officer said the act was consensual and no charges were laid.
* A woman in 1993 who was involved in a bitter custody battle said she was raped by an officer involved in her case. No charges were laid and the officer retired on medical grounds before disciplinary charges were heard.
- NZPA
