KEY POINTS:
The employment future of Assistant Police Commissioner Clint Rickards will be decided by a formal internal disciplinary tribunal reserved for cases of only the most serious misconduct.
Secrecy surrounds the "employment issues" police are discussing with Mr Rickards, who remains suspended from his role heading the Auckland police district.
Yesterday United Future leader Peter Dunne made an impassioned plea for a "concerted move" to rapidly remove Mr Rickards in the wake of this week's damning Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct.
"Because while the taint of suspicion remains - albeit allowing for the acquittals - while that need to build a new culture is held back by the shadow of the past, there can be no progress," Mr Dunne said during Parliament's general debate. "It's absolutely vital that there now be a concerted move to remove him as soon as possible."
But it could be some time before Mr Rickards' future is settled.
His disciplinary matters are being brought before the police's internal tribunal, a one-person tribunal which is likely to consist of a retired judge or senior lawyer. It is a very formal process that involves laying a charge against the police officer, who pleads guilty or not guilty in writing.
If the police officer pleads not guilty, the matter proceeds to a hearing involving a prosecutor, where witnesses can be called and cross-examined, with evidence recorded.
The tribunal can consider various types of misconduct, including conduct tending to bring discredit on the police. However, a police officer cannot be charged with a disciplinary offence if the act or omission constituting the offence occurred 12 or more months previously, unless the charge could not reasonably have been proceeded with sooner.
In Mr Rickards' case, the allegations that saw him charged and acquitted date back more than 12 months.
But an outburst last month - in which he attacked the police investigation into him and backed a convicted rapist - could work against him.
