Distasteful not the same as porn say police

A Waikato policeman found with a "topless photo and some email jokes with no photos" on his computer, and women officers who sent on joke emails to their mothers, are among the 327 under investigation in the police porn probe.

The Police Association, which has been contacting staff who received letters regarding disciplinary action last week, said there was growing concern that the commissioner's office had gone overboard in its investigation.

An internal audit of 300,000 image files on police computers had found 5000 emails "of concern" and 327 police staff are being investigated.

Images held by about 30 staff are being checked by the film censor to see if they are objectionable under the law, which could lead to criminal charges.

The email audit was sparked by a wide-ranging probe into police culture.

Commissioner Rob Robinson said most of the images found in Operation Insight were of a type that might be seen in adult-only magazines and videos.

A small number could potentially be classified as "objectionable" under censorship laws.

Police Association vice-president Richard Middleton said he did not want to minimise the seriousness of some material found, but evidence gathered showed most staff were found with emails that might be considered distasteful rather than pornographic.

"The people I have spoken to directly, the vast majority are in that joke email category that is part and parcel of email systems throughout the world."

The association was concerned that its members were being "hung out to dry for something that is right across the fabric of New Zealand".

Some staff were angry and others subdued. They were concerned about the stigma of being identified as people who passed on pornographic material.

Two women officers were being investigated for email jokes they deemed tame enough to forward to their mothers, he said.

Another policeman had received a letter because of a joke email he forwarded to someone two years ago.

The Waikato officer with the topless photo said he had spoken to many of his colleagues who had received similar emails but had not received letters regarding disciplinary action.

The colleagues were shocked and annoyed by Mr Robinson's actions, he said in an email to the Herald.

"I am sick and tired of our commissioner saying we have sufficient staff and resources yet jumping on anything that police supposedly do bad. How about all the good work that is done by police?

"This sort of thing makes you question whether you should continue.

"I am a family man with young kids. I am proud to be a police officer and work hard at my job. It is a stressful job and the joke emails you get help to alleviate it. Laughter is the best medicine in this job."

An Auckland policewoman said female officers opposed to pornography were under investigation and were "shell-shocked" to receive letters. "I know these people and the emails they've received. It's pretty much low-level stuff and I'm dead against pornography."

The female officer had not been sent a letter but colleagues who had didn't know what images on their computers investigators were talking about.

"There is a classification for objectionable images but none of them has had anything like that."

She was on one email list where Playboy-type images had been circulated but had simply deleted the email. The only bestiality she could think of - an example of unacceptable material found during the email audit and specifically referred to by Mr Robinson - was a cartoon email where a dog was "humping" an offender's leg.

The officer, in her 40s, said the inquiry was the final straw for a force whose morale was already rock-bottom.

"It's just gut-wrenching because it's one thing after another. There's a different attitude out there towards us," she said.

The officer is a frontline constable in Auckland who joined up four years ago but said she would lose her job if she was named by the Herald.

She said some colleagues wondered if one or more high-ranking officers had been caught with pornographic images and the investigation was carried out to target those individuals.

She had "huge passion" for her job but was seriously looking at a change of career.