Police forced to apologise to teen over officer’s actions
A Whanga¯rei mother who received an apology from police after an incident involving her son hopes it gives others the confidence to stand up and question officers.
Gemma Hiakita says she’d also like to meet the officer and get him to explain his actions on the day.
Hiakita’s son, Whakaari Peri, who turns 17 today, was a passenger in a car pulled over in the suburb of Kensington on November 1.
Whakaari decided to start filming but the officer took exception to his actions. The policeman threatened to give him a ticket and take down the details of all the car’s other occupants.
While neither ended up happening, Hiakita sought help from the Police Conduct Association which complained on behalf of the family.
The Independent Police Conduct Authority upheld the complaint, ruling the officer’s actions out of line and saying he should apologise.
The family got a letter the next month from Northland acting prevention manager Inspector Al Symonds, stating the “officer did not act fairly”.
“[His] behaviour . . . was not appropriate and I would like to offer a sincere apology from police for any stress this may have caused you.”
Hiakita said she was shocked at the confidence of the officer involved, making unlawful threats towards her son and his friends.
“The confidence of that officer is what disturbed me, when he was going to give my kid a ticket.”
She said the main reason her son began filming was because he lost confidence in police after he was wrongfully identified as a suspect they were seeking one night.
“When he was 13 he was in town with his friends, just sitting there minding his own business . . . police approached him, shoved him to the ground and twisted his arms and threatened to Taser him.
“He was trying to tell them ‘I’m not who you think I am, I’m just sitting here minding my own business’.
“Since then he has been really wary with police, that’s why he got his camera out, he felt that the cop was being a bit of an a ******* .”
She said while she was pleased police had apologised, she felt it was impersonal. “It’s good but at the end of the day it’s just some dude in an office writing an apology.
“It’s not the actual cop.” Hiakita said she would like to meet the officer so she could “address him personally”.
As for her son, he was now moving on. “He’s pretty good, he’s a really chilled kid. It was more me that pushed to complain. He’s just a normal 16-year-old.
“After the several occasions that Whakaari has encountered with police, I just really wanted to do something about it and hopefully others out there that aren’t confident to do a complaint might see it, it might give them confidence or let them know that something can be done.”
Northland police acting Inspector Dan Cleaver said they had spoken with the officer involved.
“Police, like any employer, has privacy obligations and we are not at liberty to discuss employment matters.” He remained an on-duty officer.