Police boss relaxed about rough arrest

A Waikato police chief backs a plain-clothes police officer seen on TV footage striking a youth he was arresting during New Year's Eve trouble at Whangamata.

3 News, which filmed the incident, was approached by several people complaining about the conduct of two police officers.

Waikato police operations manager Inspector John Kelly said yesterday he was now aware of the circumstances and was relaxed about the incident, in which the plain-clothes officer was filmed kneeling on the back of a youth while handcuffing him.

The officer appeared to strike the youth twice while a second plain-clothes officer held the crowd back.

Mr Kelly said the youth had been causing problems among the crowd and he had been charged with assault.

About 10,000 people had been celebrating the New Year at the Coromandel resort.

"It doesn't take much to tip a crowd over and we had lots of staff operating through there, enforcing the liquor ban or arresting people for fighting or disorderly behaviour," Mr Kelly said.

He was not aware of any complaints being made about police actions during the New Year celebrations.

Two people had complained to police about the actions of the youth arrested in the television footage.

Mr Kelly said he had spoken to the police officer shown in the footage and told him he supported his actions.

The force used was moderate, he said.

The total of 200 arrests during the night was slightly down on previous years.

- NZPA