The Herald can reveal that 125 cops have been charged with criminal offending since 2015 - and what they were charged with. Photo / 123RF
The Herald can reveal that 125 cops have been charged with criminal offending since 2015 - and what they were charged with. Photo / 123RF
Assault, property damage, intimidation, threats, sex attacks, theft, kidnapping, fraud and even murder.
These are just some of the crimes that sworn police officers have been charged with in the past five years.
Figures provided to the Herald under the Official Information Act reveal that from 2015 to 2019 125constabulary staff have been before the courts accused of criminal offending.
The figures provided by police were from 2015 to 2019 so that number is likely higher when 2020 information is factored in.
Of the charged cops, 32 were convicted and sentenced for crimes including serious or grievous assaults, intimidation and threats, criminal harassment, property damage, alcohol or drug driving, sexual offending, fraud, computer crime, tax evasion and other driving behaviour.
A further 39 were discharged without conviction for things like animal welfare offending, minor driving offences, family violence, firearms and fraud.
Twenty-six cases were ongoing and still before the courts.
• 57 were from the upper North Island area encompassing the Northland, Waitematā, Auckland City, Counties Manukau, Waikato and Bay of Plenty police districts
• 45 were based in the lower north - Eastern, Central and Wellington police districts
• 20 were in the South Island, covering Tasman, Canterbury and Southern
• and 13 worked in police service centres
"Police take any charges and court action seriously," said police professional conduct national manager Superintendent Barry Taylor.
"Police investigate the incidents and lay charges before the court.
"At the courts, like every other member of the public, the individual can seek representation and have their matter heard."
Since 2015, 125 cops have been charged with criminal offending. Photo / NZME
Taylor said the information would not be provided by individual districts to protect the privacy of the officers.
"Breaking down to further individual districts - some are very small - would be more readily able to identify individuals," he said.
The majority of officers charged ended up resigning or retiring during or at the end of the court process - 52.5 per cent.
About 32 per cent underwent an employment process investigation where a sanction occurred.
In 20 cases no further action was taken because the matter was dismissed within the courts and there was no employment process.
The rest of the cases are either ongoing in court or internally.
The Herald has covered some recent cases where police have been convicted.
In December 2017 Constable Ben McLean was jailed for life with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years after he murdered his wife.
Off-duty policeman Constable Ben McLean shot his estranged wife Verity and another man in Invercargill. Photo / supplied
Verity McLean was executed on Anzac Day that year.
The mother of their three children died from a single gunshot to the head, less than three weeks after she told McLean she was leaving him for a family friend, Garry Duggan.
McLean also pleaded guilty to attempting to murder Duggan.
Last December Vili Taukolo was jailed for two years and two months after his criminal offending was uncovered.
During 15 months, while he was a constable based in Auckland, Taukolo was a highly-paid informant for the criminal underworld.
The 31-year-old was accessing the police's national intelligence application system (NIA) before releasing confidential information to crooks, all while getting paid tens of thousands of dollars for the leaks.
Taukolo, who was formerly a deputy registrar of the High Court, had been caught after irregularities in his use of the NIA were discovered and led to an audit by police.
Charges against police since 2015 include murder, rape, assault, fraud, theft, property damage and harrassment. Photo / File
The NIA holds details about police investigations, people's vehicles, locations, phone numbers and criminal histories.
The audit identified more than 20,000 queries between November 2017 and March this year.
Of those, more than 4500 were made on dates when Taukolo was not working, while 1200 were on days when he was on leave or had reported in sick.
Some 2500 other queries were made an hour either side of his shift.
Taukolo also made queries about 34 other police officers and viewed personal information about them such as their address, vehicles and "occurrences linked to them", court documents show.
In total, Taukolo was paid about $70,000 by organised criminals.
In April this year, Jamie Foster was sentenced to six years in jail for indecently assaulting and raping his female workmate at a Kerikeri motel during the early hours of February 5 last year.
The 29-year-old was part of a group deployed to help police the 2019 Waitangi Day events at the Treaty Grounds.
Jamie Foster during his rape trial. Photo / NZME
The North Shore officer was part of a group deployed to help police the 2019 Waitangi Day events at the Treaty Grounds, whose collective actions and lewd behaviour have caused severe embarrassment and questions over police culture.
The 29-year-old denied the offending but after a two-week trial - where the victim was questioned repeatedly about the attack - a jury found the constable guilty on both charges.
In July 2017 Jeremy Malifa "brought shame and embarrassment to the police" with his unsanctioned and unlawful use of resources to stalk women he found sexually attractive.
The women he pursued were largely witnesses and victims at crime scenes and incidents across Auckland which he'd attended as a police officer.
The 34-year-old was convicted of illegally accessing the national intelligence police system to prey on women and sentenced to 400 hours of community work, 12 months' supervision, six months' community detention and ordered to pay $200 to each of his victims.
Thisweek an Auckland police officer found guilty of illegally presenting a Taser at a a woman won an appeal and had his conviction quashed.
Jeremy Malifa in court. Photo / NZME
Constable Sean Mathew Doak faced two charges over wielding a Taser at a woman after a high-speed pursuit in Auckland during September 2017.
Following a trial last August, a jury returned split verdicts and found the 26-year-old not guilty of assault with a weapon but guilty of unlawfully presenting a restricted weapon.
Despite arguments from Doak's lawyer, Todd Simmonds, that Doak would likely lose his job, Judge Noel Sainsbury convicted the constable.
The decision of Judge Sainsbury, who said New Zealanders "expect better" of police officers, was then appealed to the High Court and a hearing held last month.
Justice Simon Moore issued his judgment this week - granting the appeal and quashing Doak's conviction.
Doak, who was on restrictive and non-frontline duties as the court proceedings progressed, is still subject to an employment investigation.
