Top cop ‘forgot’ to start probe into private eyes
A police investigation into spying on earthquake victims has been delayed after a top cop ‘‘forgot’’ to progress it.
State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes laid a complaint with police in December after private investigators Thompson & Clark were found to have covertly recorded Southern Response clients.
A SSC inquiry found an unlicensed investigator had posed as a victim and attended meetings.
Yesterday, Police Deputy Commissioner of national operations Mike Clement admitted to Stuff the inquiry hadn’t progressed.
‘‘I didn’t action it,’’ he admitted. ‘‘I’ve gone back through my correspondence and found that I didn’t task it on the 18th December when it came through.
‘‘It is completely my fault. I can’t undo history. The inquiry is going in the right direction now.’’
Clement made no excuses for the gaffe. ‘‘It won’t make a difference but that’s not making excuses.
‘‘At the end of the day we have lost probably at least a month’s worth of investigation time.
‘‘The reality is the period it is alleged to have happened in was historic so we haven’t lost any more if we had have commenced an investigation after Christmas, which is what we would have done.’’
He said he would contact Hughes to explain and he had reported the matter to his boss, Police Commissioner Mike Bush. A spokesman for the State Services Commission said: ‘‘The commissioner has received a letter of apology from Police Deputy Commissioner Mike Clement and is pleased the matter will now be investigated.’’
Police Minister Stuart Nash said the oversight was ‘‘unfortunate’’ but he accepted it was ‘‘a genuine mistake’’. ‘‘Deputy Commissioner Clement has done the right thing by owning up to the error,’’ he said.
The mistake came to light after Stuff made a request using Official Information Act legislation to ask questions about the investigation.
When they began searching through records, Clement found the email and rang Stuff to confess.
Clement is a 40-year veteran of the force and was appointed deputy commissioner in 2014.
He has also been Auckland’s district commander and Bay of Plenty area commander and has worked on the undercover programme and in Jamaica and the Solomon Islands.
He was on Operation Austin which investigated historical sexual allegations against cop Clint Rickards and former officers Brad Shipton and Bob Schollum in 2004.
The SSC inquiry, carried out by Doug Martin and Simon Mount QC, rocked the public service.
It found that a Thompson & Clark employee recorded several closed meetings of Southern Response insurance claimants in Christchurch between 2014-2016.
The contractor was not a licensed private investigator, which is potentially unlawful. The activity was the subject of Hughes’ complaint to police.
The inquiry began in March 2018, as an inquiry into Crownowned company Southern Response’s use of Thompson & Clark, following media allegations it had spied on Canterbury earthquake victims.
As further ties between the firm and other agencies emerged, the inquiry was widened to cover the entire state sector.
That came after documents revealed Security Intelligence Service staff appeared to be helping Thompson & Clark find work.
Last year, Stuff revealed Ministry of Primary Industries staff were emailing Thompson & Clark about Kiwi eco-warrior Pete Bethune.
And last week abuse survivor and court witness Keith Wiffin revealed how he felt vilified after Crown Law hired private investigators to dig dirt on him during a case against the Ministry of Social Development.