KEY POINTS:
It has been revealed that the police hierarchy waged a ferocious behind-the-scenes battle against Dame Margaret Bazley's inquiry into police conduct.
Though her damning report extracted an unprecedented public apology from the country's top police officer, background material to the Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct reveals that lawyers acting for the police challenged Dame Margaret on several counts during the three-year inquiry.
This forum debate has now closed. Here is a selection of your views on the topic.
Alan Wilkinson
It is no surprise to hear today that both the Police and the Police Complaints Authority fought cats and dogs against the inquiry trying to hamstring it as much as possible. Those who believe the police can do no wrong are as foolish as those who believe all police are bad. Of course neither is true. However, the Police now have too much power and money and this is dangerous to a free society. It leads to corruption, arrogance and abuse. The Police Complaints Authority must share a lot of the blame. It has been clear for many years that it was a toothless pet which most police could just ignore derisively.
BF
Psychologists have long noted a similarity in the psyches of criminals and police - the same personality types gravitate to both professions. The real issue is crimes committed under colour of authority. If a crim bashes you, maybe the police will take it seriously and maybe they won't. But if a cop bashes you, you have no hope for justice, as the incidents that gave rise to this report clearly show. That is the problem space which must be dealt with. Other countries have been grappling with this issue for many years. The most successful usually have independent complaint review boards, with the power to compel testimony, and the right to publish their findings far and wide. Shining a light on abuse of authority is the best way to ensure some measure of justice for its victims.
Karen
Unfortunately the group of accused men are policemen. Known professions of authority will always be targeted by generalism. The same would happen if the accused men were teachers or priests or politicians. It makes you embarrassed to be a human some days as we all have this stupid ability to generalise. Im not a police woman. I dont have the guts (or the height!). I certainly hold a lot of respect for police and always will. They do a great job of protecting us good folk! I dont however, hold any respect for rapists.
Trish Coyle
I want to cry. This is unbearable. These lowlife scum who arrogantly flaunted their office as a part of their masculinity and power deserve to die! I pray there will be a backlash against them and they will all have their days (10,000 or more of them) rotting in a prison cell. Not for the rapes, not for what they have done to their victims but for what they have done to policing in New Zealand.
I have read all the Views of current/retired police and it is shameful. These men (the women are not on trial) put themselves in harms way every single day to protect the community at large. Thanks to some very bad press (and the media is not entirely innocent) in recent years, they have lost the respect of the mainstream. This means, combined with the disrespect of the stinking underbelly of society, the NZ Police Force is held in low regard. If NZ is to have a Police Force in the future, then something has to be done. The dulwit, heinous, arrogant rapists need to be punished very, very severely and the there must be a huge Public Relations effort to restore faith! My heart goes out to the young man with five years in the force. You do a wonderful job! Please do not give up!! Come on New Zealand....the general public, the media and every man woman and child in NZ and far away must support its Police Force or the criminals will take huge advantage of this situation.
Kent
I do not care one dot for the apology from our top cop. The bs around "it happened 20 years ago by a few bad apples" doesn't wash with me for the simple fact that the officers who were serving 20 years ago are now the top cops today. Each commanding his own district. Clint Rickard for example. Due to the "wall of silence" in this report, no names were able to be obtained. The police culture is one of Us and Them. That is why the "wall of silence" was encountered. When you put this disgrace alongside the David Bain, Scott Watson and Paul Ellis bogus convictions, you start to get an idea of the type of culture in the police.
Liam
Unfortunately this is not just a police issue, much more of a country symptom. Whether you look at rural church groups, various polynesian and Maori groupings or indeed the police force, this country is infested with gang mentality. Independent and wise individuals simply ignore and avoid communicating with these types of people, rather than be fooled by their delusional sense of power. Louise probably didn't have a good enough childhood to know what is real and what's not.
J. T. Wright
I am not, nor ever have I been a member of the police force in this, or any other country. It would be interesting to see the reactions of many of the police force's detractors after one or two weeks without one; while it may be illegal for them to strike, I suggest that every officer call in sick for a week; who'll be laughing then?
Bernice Tyree
A friend a former female police often spoke of the male dominance in the force. Her stories affirm the culture described in the report. Promotion opportunities for female officers were minimum so in theory staying in the force for her had the advance of a good wage and a pay out when she left. The qualifications of new cops shocked her and the wages they were paid to were a uniform and make up numbers had no paralle with the pay of other professional. My role required me to study for 4 yrs to gain a university degree and after graduation the salary was $36,000, Police training for most unskilled recruits after 6 months and no student loan a salary in excess of $45000....a lot of money for a new officer, or am I bias. It is 3 years since my graduation and a further P GD cert my salary is less that $40,000.
If increased numbers of female cops are the solution -who will train them? The same male officers who have been blueprinting the existing culture. How can cops with so little training become experts in rape, abuse and so on. Prioritise the role of the police and refer victims of such crimes immediate to trained support counsellors. This way the police wont be able to minimise the effects of rape and abuse on any person, female or male.
Annette
We require and demand more than an apology. If the Commisioner of police in NZ beleives the public will be fobbed off with lame empty words he is deeply mistaken. If he thinks that he can convince us that the practice of sexually harrassing members of the public has stopped or was isolated to one small town many years ago he is in for a huge shock. It is still rampant in this big Auckland metropolis and we are not going to take it any more. Single mothers reporting crime against themselves and their children and not tolerating any more victimisation and objectification by the NZ police.
Jonathan Phipps
This inquiry is into 220 police officers over a period of 20 years, not the police force. To include the rest of the 30,000 serving officers under the same label is both completely wrong and hugely detrimental to the effectiveness of our police. I know an officer who even today has had accusations of rape shouted at him twice by the general public. What gives the public the right to accuse such a thing, when they are, according to how this enquiry is being handled, in the same boat as all New Zealand's convicted rapists?
Kiwi Lisa
Mother Helen is, of course, right. All rotten apples in the police force should be gotten rid of. As fast as possible. Because, even one little rotten apple in the bag will soon turn all the other apples rotten and inedible. Also, police are there to show the public how to behave decently and not the other way round. Get rid of the scumbags in the force!
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