Police chief 'let down' by guard hiring

Howard Broad confers with Annette King at the law and order select committee hearing at Parliament yesterday. Picture / Mark Mitchell

Police and security firm Specialised Guarding Systems are each claiming that the other should have made sure convicted criminals were barred from tasks such as guarding prisoners at Wellington police station.

Yesterday, police suspended their business arrangement with SGS after the revelation that the company supplied Wellington police with two guards who had criminal convictions.

Newly-appointed Police Commissioner Howard Broad, attending his first law and order select committee meeting yesterday, was clearly embarrassed by the incident and told the committee he was deeply disappointed.

"I feel let down. Further work is going on to make sure this is not something that has happened elsewhere or will happen again."

The managing director of SGS, Darryl Stonnell, said at the start of its contract police had advised the company that all staff supplied to police underwent checks to determine their suitability for the job on the day they reported for duty at the station.

"We relied on this as the foremost confirmation of the guard's suitability to be at the station," Mr Stonnell said.

Police, however, said their contract with SGS stipulated that all guards supplied to them held a valid certificate of authority - which potential guards cannot obtain without a police background check.

"Neither of these two men had a valid certificate of authority, nor [had] applications been made to the registrar," said police spokeswoman Kaye Calder.

Mr Stonnell also said SGS had told the police about the first guard's convictions, and he had worked four shifts at the station before being removed.

"This person has delivered high quality service and none of his work with the police or any other clients has been queried at any stage."

Ms Calder said police were not aware of ever having been told of the first guard's convictions, but that would be part of an investigation.

"We would find that most surprising, that we would accept people to work in secure situations who had lengthy or serious previous convictions," said Ms Calder.

Mr Stonnell said the second guard had lied about his personal record when he was hired by SGS. He had immediately been removed from duty when the convictions were discovered and was no longer employed by SGS.

"Specialised Guarding Services will be making changes to its recruitment process to ensure full transparency from applicants for positions with the company," said Mr Stonnell.

Police Minister Annette King said it was unacceptable that the two guards had been sent to work at the police station. Police had used security guards for almost 20 years and Ms King said she had asked Mr Broad to check with all 12 police districts that there had been no similar problems elsewhere.

"I think the commissioner feels very let down," Ms King said.

"I don't feel let down by him - he reacted very quickly and you have the response from his action today."

New Zealand First MP Ron Mark added some political spice to the incident yesterday, revealing that the National Party's former Maori vice-president Dale Stephens was a director of SGS.

Mr Stonnell said Mr Stephens - a former policeman and National's Ohariu Belmont candidate in the 2002 election - was a non-operational director, and did not want to be drawn into a political dispute.

Mr Mark said he was pleased police had suspended their relationship with SGS, but said the incident raised concerns about the adequacy of vetting for security guards.