KEY POINTS:
New police guidelines for handling complaints about smacking children are unnecessarily restrictive and remove officers' discretion, the Police Association says.
Association president Greg O'Connor last night told the Herald the guidelines defeated the purpose of an amendment meant to allow police discretion when applying the law, which comes into force on Friday.
He said the pressure would be directly felt by senior sergeants who would have to make a decision "on a Sunday night after receiving a complaint" about smacking.
"The guidelines mean we have been given less discretion than we thought we were going to be given."
He said they seemed to have been drafted without consulting frontline supervisors.
"In the short term there will be people on both sides of the argument who will be seeking to prove their point and that is where the real pressure is going to come on frontline police.
"The NCOs [senior sergeants] will be the ones working 11pm on a Sunday night who will have to make these decisions.
"Police work on complaints. Police will not be out patrolling children's playgrounds looking for people smacking their children. It will be when it is brought to police attention that something will be done."
Mr O'Connor said that once a complaint was made, the standard would be the same as for reporting family violence - zero tolerance.
"And it must be reported. And unfortunately, as a result of these guidelines, [there is] very little discretion. We think the guidelines could have been a little more broad."
The guidelines released by police on Tuesday say people can smack children to prevent or minimise harm to a child but not to punish or correctit.
Parents who do so and who are involved in repetitive smacking incidents may also have their actions recorded by police even if they are not charged, the guidelines say.
Police can use their discretion not to charge if actions are deemed "inconsequential" - but exactly what that means is undefined.
Mr O'Connor said the Police Association board - made up of frontline supervisory police - met in Wellington yesterday to discuss the guidelines.
"We believe that they are unnecessarily conservative and restrictive. Any action that is corrective is clearly an offence.
"We believe there should have been discretion there as to whether that was inconsequential, but it's quite clear in the guidelines that smacking them after they've crossed the road by way of correction or punishment is going to require intervention, prosecution."
Mr O'Connor said that because the guidelines were unclear about certain word definitions such as "child" and a "person acting on behalf of a parent", it would take a test case in court before the real impact on police was known.
There would probably be an initial spate of complaints to police but he did not believe it would be "enormous".
"I think what will happen is that those who are on the poles of the argument will be looking for circumstances to test the law and that will cause a lot of work, not only in the first instance for those on the frontline taking the initial complaints, but also for family violence co-ordinators and NCOs and those making decisions down the track."
Last night Sue Bradford, the MP who proposed the anti-smacking bill, said she was "really impressed" with the police guidelines.
"I think they've done a really good job of interpreting the bill."
Ms Bradford said she was pleased police had provided advice on where to go to if help was needed interpreting the guidelines and that they named a review period, which could see changes made if there were problems.
Family First director Bob McCoskrie said good parents would be made criminals by "confusing" guidelines.
"If the police cannot say with certainty what the effect of the law is, how the heck is a parent going to figure it out when they're stressed and dealing with a defiant kid?
"With drinking we're saying it's not the drinking it's the way we're drinking ... it's the same with smacking - it's not actually smacking that's the problem, it's just some people go way over the top.
"This is a waste of time because it's not dealing with the real causes of child abuse."
Police have said the guidelines will be reviewed after three months.
