KEY POINTS:
It's a little-known fact that, in 1989, the name of Margaret Bazley - still 10 years away from being made a dame at that stage - was being floated as the first civilian commissioner of police.
The idea, which must have rattled the teacups at police stations up and down the country, never came to fruition but it's tempting today, in the light of the damning report by the Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct, to wonder about what might have been.
The commission, of course, was Dame Margaret, who officially retired in 2001 but has proved a talent too precious to put out to pasture. Her career, so distinguished that to describe her as a veteran is to damn with faint praise, included the top jobs in nursing, the State Services Commission, and the ministries of Transport, Social Welfare and Social Policy. She took the helm at a very dysfunctional Fire Service Commission and hauled it back on course. Who better to take on the inquiry into a deeply troubled police force.
The 60 recommendations in Dame Margaret's damning 450-page report were a firm rebuke to those who predicted that it would be a whitewash. They are confirmation - if any were needed - that she was never one to shrink from doing tough jobs and doing them well. She uncovered and reported evidence of behaviour by individual officers that ranged from exceptionable to disgraceful. She slammed a culture of collegiality in which some officers turned a blind eye to some of that behaviour. Importantly, she did not find evidence of a broad or systemic effort at cover-up. In doing so, she reassured us that we do not have a corrupt police force, but rather management systems inadequate to dealing with corrupt police officers.
The revelation that lawyers acting for the police waged a ferocious behind-the-scenes battle to restrict the reach of the inquiry cannot but dent confidence that the organisation is unequivocally serious about the need for reform. With her typical focus on the matter at hand, Dame Margaret chose not to highlight the fact that the police had sought to put obstacles in her way; only an assiduous reading of the report's voluminous appendices by a New Zealand Herald Press Gallery reporter brought it to public light. But plainly it inspired the 60th and most severe recommendation: in effect, Dame Margaret said that she was not confident that the police would fully implement her recommendations. She has required that they submit to a decade of annual audits from the State Services Commission and the Auditor-General. Anyone fearing - or hoping for - a once-over-lightly must be feeling pretty disappointed.
Just what will become of the Commission's recommendations remains to be seen. The Government has moved quickly to endorse them all but they could hardly do otherwise and in this matter, as in the conduct that has been the subject of investigation, actions speak a good deal louder than words. The police hierarchy has been similarly responsive, although their enthusiasm might be received with even more scepticism, given the unduly defensive posture they adopted during the inquiry.
To the extent that they hoped to blunten Dame Margaret's impact, the tactic has not only failed but backfired. That 60th recommendation is proof of that. But the outcome has also proven that, in taking on one of the most astute and single-minded public servants in the country's history, the police and their counsel were biting off more than they could chew. It seems unlikely that this inquiry will be the last act of a career that, by rights, should have long ago given way to untroubled retirement. But if it is, it is an achievement of which she should be proud; and it is one for which we should all be grateful.
