Officers behaved ‘unprofessionally’ on night of assault

the already widely held belief that socialising and having a few drinks between shifts was acceptable. ‘‘Two of the senior Northland district officers present said that, upon introducing the officer in charge of logistics to the group, Inspector E said: ‘If you need anything, alcohol, drugs, women, see him’,’’ the report said.

A senior sergeant also recalled the inspector saying: ‘‘If you want a good time, you want beers and girls, go see the logistics guy.’’

Numerous other officers also recalled that comment and said while it was inappropriate, it was taken as a ‘‘tongue-in-cheek’’ comment. The inspector denied making any comments about women and said he ‘‘lightened’’ at the end of the briefing but saying to look after themselves, don’t drink too much and if they had a problem to call him. Another inspector reminded the officers that while it was appropriate to have a beer or two, to be mindful of their behaviour as they were under public scrutiny.

Over the course of the afternoon of February 4, a number of officers congregated in the motel courtyard and began drinking, some played drinking games, played cars and participated in a ‘‘jug session’’.

About 11.30pm, 10 officers were seated in a circle when a senior sergeant stood up, removed his shorts and exposed himself. He admitted to the authority it was his ‘‘party trick’’.

‘‘. . . since I was 20, everybody knows I do stupid things like that . . . I shouldn’t have done it . . . in my brain I wasn’t their boss at the time . . . it was jesting among friends at a party.’’

Later that evening the officer participated in a stripping game.

The IPCA found that while offduty officers were not prohibited from drinking alcohol between shifts, they were obliged to behave within the code of conduct. It was not professional to stay up late drinking alcohol before an early start and some officers were in breach of the code of conduct.