Cops slow to investigate their own, victim says

The victim of a sustained harassment campaign by a Dunedin police officer says cops are slow to investigate their own, and in that sense the force is corrupt.

Police officers were convicted of

11 offences between 2016 and November 2017 after they committed crimes ranging from indecent assault to threatening to do grievous bodily harm.

While police did not identify the convicted officers, some of the most serious offending recorded appear to relate to Dunedin policeman Jeremy Buis – who waged a harassment campaign on a Dunedin businessman for more than two years.

Buis was convicted in July on a raft of charges relating to the three-year harassment campaign against Daniel Pryde after a June

2012 parking dispute escalated, including threatening to do grievous bodily harm and intentional damage.

Pryde, who was subjected to threats, anonymous texts and gay taunts from his tormentor, said Buis was obviously ‘‘one bad apple’’ but said police were reluctant to investigate their own. ‘‘Police had a lot of opportunities to catch him but it’s almost like they didn’t want to admit there was a bad one.

‘‘It’s corrupt in that sense ... they don’t do enough to investigate their own.

‘‘They tend to sit on it ... I think they could have done a lot more in the early days to investigate,’’ Pryde said.

Figures released by police under the Official Information Act reveal 11 sworn officers were convicted on a raft of charges during the period. Nine resigned during the course of investigations while two returned to work. There were 13 convictions recorded in 2015, 19 in 2014 and 20 in 2013.

The officers were charged with offences including assault, indecent assault, wounding with intent to injure, criminal harassment, threatening to do grievous bodily harm, drunk driving and wounding and injuring with intent.

Another serious offender appeared to be Sergeant Gregory David Waters, who was sentenced in August after earlier being found guilty by a jury on five counts of indecent assault against a woman in her home while Waters was giving her self-defence lessons.

In December Invercargill police officer Ben McLean, 48, was jailed for a minimum of 17 years for the April 2017 murder of his wife, Verity McLean, and the attempted murder of her new partner Garry Duggan.

Superintendent Anna Jackson, police professional conduct national manager said the public rightly expected high standards from police staff. ‘‘We set high professional standards for ourselves and demand integrity from our staff, in terms of judgement, choices and actions.’’

Jackson said the fall in convictions against officers over recent years was an encouraging sign, however, police were never complacent. ‘‘We continue to expect our staff to maintain the highest levels of service and to act with integrity, empathy, professionalism, respect in line with the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi and valuing diversity at all times as per our values.

‘‘However, we also recognise that despite the best of intentions, individual staff members are human – they and the organisation as a whole don’t always get it right.’’