Wairarapa abuse 'tip of iceberg'

Hundreds more abused children may still be living in abusive homes around the country, police say.

A backlog of 108 files in Wairarapa was identified last year during the planning process for a new Wellington District Child Protection Team.

Auckland and Christchurch police were also battling to clear files, some as old as three years, and there could be as many as 600 backlogged sex and physical abuse cases in the Wellington police district, the Dominion Post reported.

One case involves allegations against a Newlands teacher who is still teaching.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg. We warned about this three years ago," Police Association president Greg O'Connor said.

Police Assistant Commissioner Viv Rickard said police had dealt with nearly 1800 cases of child abuse annually for the past three years, which included sexual attacks, abnormal sex and immoral behaviour against people aged 16 and under.

"At any given time there is likely to be up to 100 cases under investigation in provincial centres, increasing to around 300 in larger cities and metropolitan centres," Mr Rickard said.

The police had 21 specialist child abuse investigation teams nationwide, as well as investigators who had specialist child abuse portfolios.

"Where possible, these staff are focused on abuse investigations. However they are sometimes also required to assist with other serious crime investigation," he said.

"The question of the effectiveness of resourcing child abuse investigations will be one of the matters addressed in the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) investigation."

Wellington police yesterday apologised for the "unacceptable" delays and insufficient investigation into child abuse cases.

IPCA chairwoman Justice Lowell Goddard said the authority had asked police for a robust audit of child abuse files to determine whether or not delays had also happened in other districts.

Acting Wellington police district commander Gail Gibson said despite the investigation, changes were already in place to step up child protection. A team of 10 specialised staff was likely to begin work in December and would focus solely on child abuse files.

Meanwhile, Jill Proudfoot, of family violence prevention service shine, said police had made "enormous efforts" during the past few years to improve their response to family violence and child abuse.

"All agencies, whether government or non-government, struggle with insufficient funding to attend to all the needs in the community and I am confident every measure possible to improve the situation for children in the Wairarapa is being taken," Ms Proudfoot said.

"However, we strongly support the formation of a task force with dedicated resources to respond to child abuse in New Zealand communities."

Her group had worked closely with the police in Auckland and had seen the "significant" difference made by their collaboration with Child Youth and Family and other government departments and non-government organisations, she said.

- NZPA