Police officers face drug tests and surveillance

Police could be subjected to new checks. Picture / Northern Advocate

Police officers may face random drug tests and covert surveillance in a bid to restore public confidence in the force.

The Office of the Police Commissioner has launched an internal review of police ethics but union leaders are cautioning against too narrow a focus on police misbehaviour.

They say problems would be better solved by boosting police numbers and ensuring adequate resources.

The review follows high-profile criminal investigations of police officers, the discovery of pornography on police email systems, and inadequacies in the 111 service.

The review, code-named Operation Integrity, will consider implementing random drug and alcohol testing for staff, covert surveillance operations, alcohol guidelines for police in remote areas and DNA testing for recruits.

District commander of the Tasman region. Superintendent Grant O'Fee, is heading the project. He said the goal was to "reduce complaints and improve police ethics".

He admitted that recent negative publicity had been "a factor" in fast-tracking the review, but said it had been under consideration for some time.

The team was working with the New Zealand Police Association and the Police Complaints Authority, as well as interviewing the rank and file.

He said: "Everyone is unanimous: no one wants us to be in the position the poor old Aussies have ended up in, with Royal Commissions of inquiry in some states and serious allegations of ingrained corruption."

The police complaints procedure was also in need of "an overhaul", Mr O'Fee said, to pick up problems early rather than just deal with complaints.

The team would be looking at similar operations overseas and planned to make recommendations to the Commissioner of Police in December.

Police Association president Greg O'Connor said while the union was not opposed to the review, he did not want it to distract from the underlying problems.

"Our concern is there seems to be this belief that if they just fix this one thing, they will fix the police force. But a narrow puritanical focus ignores the real problems," he said.

- NZPA