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The credibility of the New Zealand police force has taken another hit with new figures showing more than a dozen serving officers are facing criminal charges ranging from rape of a minor to wounding with intent.
The Office of the Commissioner is playing down the number and seriousness of the charges, saying cases pending against serving officers should be taken in the context of a 10,000-strong police force.
The figures follow Dame Margaret Bazley's report into police conduct, and cap off a week which has seen four officers committed for trial and the career of another left in tatters.
Police refused to name those facing criminal charges, but did confirm the 14 sworn officers held the rank of either constable or sergeant, and that they were from the Auckland, Waitemata, Counties Manukau, Bay of Plenty, Tasman and Canterbury police districts.
The charges they face include: male assaults female, injuring with intent, common assault, excess breath alcohol, theft, careless driving, making a false statement, assault with a weapon, wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, male rapes female, and male rapes female (aged between 12 and 16).
Some of the charges carry maximum prison terms of 14 years or more.
Police national manager for professional standards Stu Wildon would not say how many of those sworn officers had been stood down, suspended, or were on full or restricted duties.
National's police spokesman Chester Borrows told the Herald on Sunday news of the charges would do little to restore confidence in a police force still reeling from the findings of the Bazley report, the police sex trials and the Iraena Asher 111 debacle.
"These officers on charges make it harder for the police to claw back that public confidence," Borrows said.
"But you have to have confidence in the fact that the police are catching these guys and putting them before the courts. You can't argue that the police aren't doing their job, or are going soft on their own, because they certainly aren't."
Borrows believed it would take some time for the reputation of the New Zealand police to recover from the fall-out over the police sex trials involving former officers Brad Shipton, Bob Schollum and Assistant Commissioner Clint Rickards.
Rickards is still receiving his full salary of about $150,000 a year as police extend his suspension period while they continue to work through employment issues. In March, he was cleared of kidnapping and indecent assault charges involving a 16-year-old in the 1980s. Last year he was acquitted of raping Louise Nicholas when she was a teenager, also in the 1980s.
