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The inquiry team set up to investigate alleged police misconduct is looking into a new sex allegation against suspended Assistant Police Commissioner Clint Rickards.
Operation Austin head Steve Vaughan confirmed last night it was investigating another allegation of a historical sexual nature against Rickards and while nothing had been substantiated, the matter was being treated seriously.
Rickards' lawyer, John Haigh QC, said last night "I would not believe a word of what Operation Austin individuals leaked to the media".
The allegation dates back to the early 1990s when Rickards was working in Rotorua.
Vaughan would not say where its information had come from, but confirmed he had spoken to two former police officers and one current serving officer about the allegation.
He was now trying to contact another former officer in Australia who could be key to establishing whether there was any substance to what had been alleged.
Vaughan said two of the three people he had interviewed had no knowledge of the allegation against Rickards, while the third person was aware there had been some "talk" at the time about the claim. "We are aware of the information that has been provided to us. We have assessed it, spoken to two people who have no knowledge of it and are now making further inquiries," he said. "While we haven't yet been able to substantiate these allegations, that's not to say we aren't taking this matter seriously."
One of the former police officers interviewed by Vaughan told the Herald on Sunday she did not know the name of the alleged complainant, but said "it had been mentioned years ago".
She said she had been told of the allegation by an officer who had worked in the police station where the alleged complaint had been made by a woman and her mother.
Another colleague had also told her of the allegation after speaking with an officer from that station.
"It was a hot topic of conversation around the stations at the time," she said.
She had not raised the matter at the time for fear of being "blacklisted" by her colleagues.
The Operation Austin investigation into police sex offending - which Rickards has labelled a "shambles" - was launched after Rotorua woman Louise Nicholas accused Rickards and former police officers Bob Schollum and Brad Shipton of raping her in 1986. The men said the sex was consensual and were acquitted after a High Court trial in March last year.
Following the verdict the three were charged with similar offences relating to another woman - charges on which they were again acquitted. But at the conclusion of the trial, suppression orders were lifted, revealing Shipton and Schollum were in jail for the kidnapping and rape of a woman at Mt Maunganui.
Rickards is now seeking reinstatement as Auckland police boss, but that is subject to a number of unresolved "employment issues" including claims he had sex with a woman on the bonnet of a police car in 1983.
While the criminal proceedings are now over, looming in the background is the imminent release of the report of the Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct, which is likely to contain some uncomfortable findings for police. Prime Minister Helen Clark indicated last week the report would create a stir, saying: "When it comes out, no doubt there will be plenty to discuss."
The $3.6 million inquiry was set up in February 2004 to explore police handling of allegations of sex offending against their own, with the report by Dame Margaret Bazley due to be given to the Governor-General by the end of the month.
