Red faces at police watchdog blunder
It’s so easily done – hitting ‘reply’ instead of ‘forward’ and instantly regretting it – but an email sent in error to a complainant has caused embarrassment for the police watchdog.
The Independent Police Conduct Authority is in the process of dealing with a complaint by Aucklander Murry Sanderson.
But an email from IPCA second in command, Operations Manager Dr Warren Young, appears dismissive of Sanderson: ‘‘Good grief. I am not going to have to meet with him, am I? I am not sure you can trust me to do that on my own.’’
The email, sent on December 9 at 2:25pm, was followed seconds later by one saying ‘‘Warren Young would like to recall the [previous] message.’’
Sanderson believes the email was intended to be internal correspondence but was sent to him by mistake, and that the words within it were ‘‘typical of the attitude I’ve run into’’.
He has concerns about what he says are instances of unfair treatment by local police and a lack of action on allegations of non-serious crimes. He does not believe the IPCA has dealt with the complaints properly.
Authority chair Judge Sir David Carruthers claimed Young’s email had been misunderstood.
Sanderson had become ‘‘very emotional’’ at an earlier meeting where Young had had difficulty explaining the authority’s approach. ‘‘Dr Young did not feel that he had handled the meeting well, and thought that a further meeting between him and Mr Sanderson might not go well.’’
Curruthers accepts, however, it is ‘‘entirely understandable that Mr Sanderson has misinterpreted the email, given the way in which it was phrased’’.
He says the authority has apologised, and Sanderson ‘‘can have confidence that the authority will investigate his complaints in a fair and unbiased way.’’
Sanderson says he did not receive an apology until late Friday, after the Sunday Star-Times became involved.