Public confidence in the police has been jolted several times over the past decade. Recovering this has, by necessity, been a gradual process. Paradoxically, one of the most effective roles has been played by the Independent Police Complaints Authority in investigating serious grievances against the police.
A system under which the police inquire into complaints against themselves will always attract cynicism. Public dissatisfaction came to a head over the shooting of Steven Wallace at Waitara in 2000. The eventual outcome was the formation of the independent authority headed by Justice Lowell Goddard, QC. In her five-year term, the conclusion of which was announced this week, she left no doubt that complaints would be investigated fairly and rigorously.
Importantly, the authority was not afraid to ruffle police feathers. It re-examined the Wallace shooting, concluding the police should have done more to provide first aid. It produced an incisive and widely praised report on the revelations of Louise Nicholas and, in the interests of public safety, spoke out against the police's pursuit policy. Most recently, there was further criticism of police command and weapons training in a report on the shooting of Halatau Naitoko on Auckland's Northwestern Motorway.
The public have benefited from the authority's fairness and transparency. But there has also been a pay-off for the police. People now have a far greater appreciation of the pressure under which they operate. Justice Goddard's successor, Judge Sir David Carruthers, has a hard act to follow.
