KEY POINTS:
Suspended police Assistant Commissioner Clint Rickards could be forced out of the police force by a new sex claim - that he had intercourse with a woman on the bonnet of a police car in 1983.
The Weekend Herald can reveal this is one of the "employment issues" top officers at police national headquarters were referring to when they refused to reinstate Mr Rickards after his acquittal this week.
It is also understood the Operation Austin investigation into police sex offending - which Mr Rickards called a "shambles" - has uncovered damaging allegations against him.
The Weekend Herald has been told the allegations do not have a criminal element, "but certainly from a moral perspective [Mr Rickards] is not going to want it getting out".
Mr Rickards had said he wanted to resume work at the Auckland Central police station on Monday. He was the district commander for Auckland City and the officer in charge of the city's other regions when he was suspended in early 2004.
His lawyer, John Haigh, QC, refused to comment about the sex-on-a-bonnet allegation yesterday.
"I don't think you can assume that everything coming out of Operation Austin is reliable," he said.
The new allegation could be used as a way of forcing Mr Rickards from his job.
Police chiefs knew of the Louise Nicholas allegations and his defence that it was consensual group sex since 1994, but promoted him four times.
Police regulations prohibit disgraceful conduct tending to bring discredit to the police.
Employment lawyers spoken to by the Weekend Herald believe police would face an uphill battle in trying to dismiss Mr Rickards for his admitted sexual behaviour with Louise Nicholas, as he was not disciplined when the matters came to light.
Mr Rickards admitted during the trial of a fellow police officer in 1994 that he had had consensual sex with Louise Nicholas in 1986. On one of those occasions another person was present, the court was told.
Prime Minister Helen Clark has also known of allegations of sexual offending relating to Mr Rickards since 2000, when he applied for the job of deputy commissioner.
She has to approve appointments to deputy commissioner, and Mr Rickards' application did not succeed.
Confidential papers obtained by the Weekend Herald under the Official Information Act show Helen Clark was made aware by the commissioner of the day, Rob Robinson, of "an allegation of historical sexual offending" against Mr Rickards.
Mr Robinson told her that "matters" involving sex offences could be "problematic in the event of his appointment as deputy commissioner".
The Prime Minister would not comment yesterday, saying the matter was an employment issue.
Auckland employment lawyer Shan Wilson said yesterday that she did not think Mr Rickards would receive a multimillion-dollar payout to leave the force.
Such an arrangement would be disclosable under the Official Information Act, and would not be popular with the public.
"If they are going to do that, we all get to know," Ms Wilson said. "That's going to be a real pressure."
