Three cops in drink probe

Three police staff are facing drink-driving charges. Photo / Getty Images

Three police staff, including two officers, are facing drink-driving charges - the latest in a series of high-profile drink-drive allegations involving the force.

Police say all three staff - who were charged over the past four months - will be the focus of internal employment inquiries.

Opposition MP Clayton Cosgrove, who uncovered the new cases in a parliamentary question, said he was shocked.

In her parliamentary response last week, Police Minister Judith Collins said the staff worked in Tasman and Auckland and at the Police College in Porirua. The incidents happened last November, December and January.

Police spokesman Grant Ogilvie said there would be an internal investigation into each case. "Two of the incidents you refer to involve constabulary staff. The other involves a police employee," he said.

Revelations of the new charges come in the same week as the Independent Police Conduct Authority launched an investigation into the handling of the case of Superintendent Graham Thomas, who is accused of refusing a breath test at his home after earlier being found slumped at the wheel of his car and admitting drinking to community patrol officers.

And it was reported last week that Auckland Constable Matt Hooper did not have a blood test after he injured himself at a police station.

Collins would not comment on the new allegations, or news of an IPCA investigation into Thomas.

"Given that this case is subject of an ongoing employment practices and code of conduct internal investigation, it wouldn't be appropriate for the minister to comment," a spokesman said.

She would also not comment on whether she was reviewing the Police Code of Conduct.

Cosgrove wants a major revamp of the code to make all officers take breath tests if requested. He is dismayed by the handling of the Thomas allegations.

"I'm deeply concerned that following the Graham Thomas affair, that effectively the minister who is responsible to the Parliament and the people has chosen to do nothing about it.

"By her inaction she undermines the credibility of our good police force who do a hell of a good job," he said.

"She should call the commissioner and say 'I'm deeply concerned about this. How is it that this could happen? What can we do to remedy it? And surely, I would like you to explore or review the provisions of the Code of Conduct to see if there is a way to amend that, for instance, to say police personnel, whether they be sworn or unsworn, must [acquiesce] to a breath test'."

Earlier this month police bosses denied the existence of top-level documents describing a serious drink-driving allegation against Thomas, first revealed by the Herald on Sunday in December.

The former national prosecutions manager, whose salary is between $171,080 to $219,961, is on extended paid leave from police headquarters after an incident on December 13.

Police headquarters had stated that there was no written documentation relating to the incident between key people including Thomas.

But according to witness reports taken at the Johnsonville police station later that morning, Thomas admitted drinking when he was found asleep in his car outside the Johnsonville Mobil service station by a police patrol.

The officers were asked by police communications staff to follow Thomas to his house. After a 20-minute delay, a police officer knocked on Thomas' door and asked him to carry out a breath test. Thomas refused.

Police Commissioner Howard Broad said Thomas had a moral duty but "unique" circumstances made the issue tricky.

It was revealed last week that former team policing officer Matt Hooper was breath tested after colleagues pulled him over driving in Downtown Auckland about 11pm on December 11. He did not give a blood test after he was injured in a police station toilet and was taken to hospital.

Under the Land Transport Act alcohol blood samples cannot be collected from hospital unless a person has been in a car accident. No charges will be laid because of this loophole.