Southern police not revealing disciplinary action
SOUTHERN police are refusing to reveal what disciplinary action was taken against the dozens of officers subject to upheld misconduct allegations in recent years.
Data released by police under the Official Information Act earlier this year showed police investigations upheld at least 82 allegations of misconduct against sworn officers in the Southern district, encompassing Otago and Southland, since 2015.
The upheld allegations included falsifying a document, harassment, bullying or discrimination, improper use of force, violence, disgraceful behaviour and unauthorised use of a database.
A subsequent OIA request asked for details of disciplinary action as a result of these allegations, including whether each officer was demoted, sacked or otherwise subject to sanction.
Police professional conduct national manager Superintendent Anna Jackson, of Wellington, declined to release any information regarding disciplinary action taken against officers subject to upheld allegations, citing a need to protect the privacy of those involved.
The Otago Daily Times did not request the names, genders or ages of the offices involved and will appeal to the Ombudsman regarding Supt Jackson’s decision.
Notable investigations where some or all allegations were upheld included. —
An Otago (encompassing Otago coastal outside of Dunedin and Otago Lakes Central) constable was investigated for an attempted suicide of a person in custody, a prosecution failure, an unlawful search, dishonesty and an allega tion regarding ‘‘exhibits’’ in 2015, stemming from two incidents. All but the dishonesty allegation were upheld.
An Otago senior constable or above was investigated regarding the attempted suicide of a person in custody in 2015, before being subject to another investigation the following year for ‘‘unauthorised use of a database’’. The investigations upheld both allegations.
A Dunedin senior constable or above investigated for allegations regarding their attitude/language and failure to follow a lawful instruction in 2015, and subject to another investigation last year regarding a conflict of interest and unauthorised use of a database. All four allegations were upheld.
SOUTHERN police were subject to more complaints and notifications regarding their use of force last year than officers in Auckland City, according to a new police report.
The 2017 Tactical Options Research report released yesterday showed there were 26 use of force complaints and notifica tions to the Independent Police Conduct Authority last year in the Southern District (Otago and Southland), compared with 25 in Auckland City.
Auckland City has the largest population of all 12 police districts.
Of the complaints and notifications in the South, 21 were for officers with empty hands (unarmed), three related to handcuffs/restraints, one each were for use of pepper spray and Taser.
Waikato and Wellington had the highest number of such complaints, tied on 50, followed by Counties Manukau with 40.
The report also showed the Southern District had fewer total uses of the Taser (including presentations and discharges) than average, both in total and per 10,000 offenders.
There were 68 total Taser incidents last year in the South, compared with the national average of 99 across all police districts.
Of these, five involved discharges with Taser probes, 13 were ‘‘presentations’’, 49 ‘‘paintings’’ with the weapon’s laser sight, while one was electrical arcing of the device.
Nationally, the report found the most common types of force used by police last year were ‘‘empty hand tactics’’ (39%), handcuffs and restraints (34%), pepper spray (32%) and Tasers (26%) of the 4536 useofforce events.
Less frequently deployed were firearms and dogs (6% each) and batons (1%).