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New Zealand Police

Name:	New Zealand Police (Ngā Pirihimana o Aotearoa in Māori)
Motto:	"Safer Communities Together"
Established:	1842 (1842 - 1886 known as the New Zealand Armed Constabulary or Armed Constabulary Force) (1886 - 1958 known as the New Zealand Police Force) (1958 onwards - simply as New Zealand Police)
Stations:	400+
Staff:	10,500+
Districts:	12
Location:	New Zealand
Website	New Zealand Police Website Police Act Review Website

The New Zealand Police (Ngā Pirihimana o Aotearoa in Māori) is the national police force of New Zealand, responsible for enforcing criminal and traffic law, enhancing public safety, maintaining order and keeping the peace throughout New Zealand.

Contents 1 Origins and history 2 Police Act Review 3 Some Headlines 4 Arms 5 Organisation 5.1 Staff 5.2 Ranks 5.3 Career advancement 6 Accountabilities 6.1 Annual reporting 6.2 Crime statistics 7 Recent controversies 7.1 Historic sexual misconduct 7.2 Communications centres 7.3 Pornographic e-mails 7.4 Police culture 7.5 Cooked statistics 8 Taser trial 9 References 10 External links

Policing in New Zealand started in 1840 with the arrival of six constables accompanying Lt. Governor Hobson's official landing party to form the colony of New Zealand. Early policing arrangements were along similar lines to other British colonial police forces, in particular the Royal Irish Constabulary and the New South Wales police (Hobson had been born in Ireland). Many of its first officers had seen prior service in either Ireland or Australia. The early Force was initially part police and part militia.

At the outset, official establishment of sworn constables holding common law powers to arrest people was achieved by Magistrates being given the power to swear them in via the Magistrates Ordinance of 1842. By 1846 the emerging organisation of a police force was recognised with the passage of the Armed Constabulary Ordinance. New Zealand's early police force continued to grow with the colony, and was further enhanced with additional structure and rules with the passage of the first Police Act, the New Zealand Armed Constabulary Act of 1867. The Armed Constabulary took part in land wars against Māori opposed to colonial expansion at that time.

From the police force's beginnings in 1840 through the next forty years, policing arrangements varied around New Zealand. Whilst the nationally organised Armed Constabulary split its efforts between regular law enforcement functions and militia support to the Maori land wars, some provinces desired local police forces of their own. This lead to a separate Provincial Police Force Act being passed by the Parliament. However, provincial policing models lasted only two decades as economic depression in the 1870s saw some provinces stop paying their police as they ran out of money. Eventually, government decided a single nationally organised police would be the best and most efficient policing arrangement.

The New Zealand Police Force was established as a single national force under the Police Force Act of 1886. The change in name was significant, and provincial policing arrangements were dis-established and their staff largely absorbed into the newly created New Zealand Police Force. At the same time, government took the important step to hive off the militia functions of the old Armed Constabulary, and form the genesis of today's New Zealand Defence Force, initially called in 1886 the New Zealand Permanent Militia.

Just a decade later, policing in New Zealand was given a significant overhaul. In 1898 there was a very constructive Royal Commission of Enquiry into New Zealand Police. The Royal Commission, which included the reforming Commissioner Tunbridge who had come from the Metropolitan Police in London, produced a far reaching report which laid the basis for positive reform of New Zealand Police for the next several decades. A complete review of Police's legislation in 1908 built significantly off the Royal Commission's work.

A further Police Force Act in 1947 reflected some changes of a growing New Zealand, and a country coming out of the second great war. But the most significant change in the structure and arrangement for Police was to arrive after the departure of Commissioner Compton under a cloud of government and public concern over his management of Police in 1955. The appointment of a caretaker civilian leader of Police, especially titled Controller General to recognise his non-operational background, opened the windows on the organisation and allowed a period of positive and constructive development to take place.

In 1958, the word Force was removed from the name when legislation was significantly revised. The Police Act 1958 is being extensively reviewed. There is an open consultative process supporting the drafting of a new Police Bill due to be submitted to Parliament in 2008. You can access information on the Police Act Review at [4]

New Zealand Police has welcomed the opportunity for the legislation to be reviewed as the current Police Act is nearly 50 years old and due for an overhaul to bring it into line with the requirements of the 21st century.

A comprehensive review and re-write of Police's legislation is a serious undertaking, and consultations will be broad ranging and inclusive. On-line submissions to the various consultation documents are welcomed. Follow the link to www.policeact.govt.nz to find out more[5]

During the 1981 Springbok tour, the Police formed two riot squads known as Red Squad and Blue Squad to control anti-apartheid protesters who laid siege to rugby fields where the touring team was playing.

In July 1985, the New Zealand Police arrested two French Security Service operatives after the Rainbow Warrior was bombed and sunk in Auckland harbour. The rapid arrest was attributed to the high level of public support for the investigation.

A member of the New Zealand Police, Sergeant Stewart Graeme Guthrie, was the last civilian recipient of the George Cross, which is awarded for conspicuous gallantry. He fired a warning shot near a gunman at Aramoana on November 13, 1990, but was killed by a return shot from the gunman, who also killed twelve others.

On 1 July 1992, the Traffic Safety Service of the Ministry of Transport was merged with the Police. Up until that time, the Ministry of Transport and local councils had been responsible for traffic law enforcement. In 2001, the Police re-established a specialist road policing branch known as the Highway Patrol. Today the Police are responsible for enforcing traffic law, while local councils enforce parking regulations.

More recently, the New Zealand Police has been involved in international policing and peacekeeping missions to Timor Leste, East Timor and the Solomon Islands, to assist these countries with establishing law and order after civil wars. They have also been involved in Community Police training in Bougainville, in conjunction with Australian Federal Police. Other overseas deployments for regional assistance and relief have been to Afghanistan as part of the reconstruction effort, the Kingdom of Tonga, Thailand for the tsunami disaster and Indonesia after terrorist bombings. New Zealand Police maintains an international policing support network in eight foreign capitals, and has about 100 staff deployed in differing international missions.

New Zealand Police officers do not normally bear firearms while on patrol, but routinely carry pepper spray and batons. Police are also trialling a taser as a new non-lethal weapon (see below). Certain police cars can carry firearms in a secure container (usually a Glock 17 pistol); their use being supervised by a senior officer such as a Sergeant. The presence of armed police at an incident is often considered a newsworthy event by the media.

In 1964, the Armed Offenders Squad (AOS) was created to provide a specialist armed response unit. The AOS is analogous to SWAT in the United States, and attends various emergency situations such as hostage-takings, or apprehension of armed criminals.

In addition to the AOS, the New Zealand Police maintain a unit known as the Special Tactics Group. The STG, similar to the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team, is the last line of law enforcement response available before a police incident controller calls in the special forces - in New Zealand, the Special Air Service act as the military's counter-terrorism force. Because they train with the SAS, the STG are skilled at dynamic entry and other tactics that can make the difference in preventing a high-risk situation from resulting in the death of a police officer.

Even if the incident controller calls in the SAS, an armed incident remains the jurisdiction of the New Zealand Police, with the IC having go/no-go control over the regiment's response team. The incident at Aramoana saw the Police request mobilisation of the SAS, but the incident was successfully resolved by the Armed Offenders Squad and Special Tactics Group before they actually responded.

Although headed by a Commissioner, the New Zealand Police is a decentralised organisation divided into twelve districts, each with a geographical area of responsibility, several service centres that each provide a range of core nationwide services in their speciality areas, and a Police National Headquarters that provides policy and planning advice as well as national oversight and management of the organisation.

District Commanders hold the rank of Superintendent. Area Commanders hold the rank of Inspector. Shift Commanders normally hold the rank of Senior Sergeant. Service Centre Managers may be sworn or non-sworn, depending on speciality.

The New Zealand Police is a member of Interpol and has close relationships with the Australian police forces, at both the state and federal level. Several New Zealand Police representatives are posted overseas in key New Zealand diplomatic missions.

The Police also work closely with the Serious Fraud Office.

While sworn officers make up the majority of the workforce, non-sworn staff and volunteers provide a wide range of support services where a sworn officer's statutory powers are not required.

Rank insignia is worn on the epaulettes. Officers of Inspector rank and higher are commissioned by the Governor General, but are still promotions from the ranks of non-commissioned officers.

• Recruit — word "RECRUIT" below police number
• Constable — police number
• Senior Constable — one white point-up chevron above police number
• Sergeant — three white point-up chevrons above police number
• Senior Sergeant — white crown between two ferns above police number
• Inspector — three silver stars ("pips")
• Superintendent — one silver star below a crown
• Assistant Commissioner — three silver pips in a triangle below a crown
• Deputy Commissioner — silver crossed sword and baton below one star
• Commissioner — silver crossed sword and baton below a crown.

A recently graduated Constable is considered a Probationary Constable for up to two years, until he or she has passed ten workplace assessment standards and a compulsory university paper. The completion of the above is known as obtaining permanent appointment.

Detective ranks somewhat parallel the street ranks up to Detective Superintendent. Trainee Detectives spend around 6-12 months time as a Constable on Trial, before progression to Detective Constable after successful completion of an Induction course. There is then a Workplace assessment for Detective Constables, and after approximately 2-3 years in the C.I.B, a Detective Constable may take the qualifying course to become a Detective.

Detective and Detective Constable are considered designations and not specific ranks. That is, Detectives do not outrank uniformed constables.

New Zealand police uniforms formerly followed the British model closely but since the 1970s a number of changes have been implemented. These include the adoption of a medium blue shade in place of dark blue, the abolition of helmets and the substitution of synthetic leather jackets for silver buttoned tunics when on ordinary duty. Special armed units wear military style combat dress in black when on operations.

Current New Zealand Police staff are able to apply for advertised positions within the New Zealand Police. Applicants submit their curriculum vitae (CV) and undergo an interview process. It is possible that the successful applicant may not be immediately awarded the position, as any other unsuccessful internal applicant applying for the same position is able to appeal the decision which also allows them access to the successful applicants CV. The appeals process may take several weeks to complete.

While the New Zealand Police is technically a government department and has political representation in Government through the Minister of Police, the Commissioner and all sworn members swear allegiance directly to the Sovereign and, by constitutional convention, have constabulary independence from the government of the day.

The New Zealand Police publishes an annual report for the year ending 30 June, reporting both financial and non-financial achievements. It also publishes a Statement of Intent, in conjunction with the Budget, that outlines the budget for the forthcoming year as well as performance measures and objectives.

In addition to the annual report, the Police also publishes six-monthly statistical summaries of crime for both New Zealand as a whole and each Police District. In early 2005, crime statistics for both Recorded Crime and Recorded Apprehensions for the last 10 years were published by Statistics New Zealand. These statistics provide offence statistics down to individual sections of legislation and appear to be the most detailed national crime statistics available today.

The New Zealand Police is considered one of the least corrupt police forces in the world. Despite this, there have been a number of recent controversies that have put the Police under close scrutiny. While the Police Complaints Authority is an independent body that investigates complaints against the New Zealand Police, the following events have either fallen outside the authority's ambit or received significant publicity.

In 2004, a number of historic sexual misconduct allegations dating from the 1980s were made against both serving and former police officers. Several senior officers were stood down. A commission of enquiry was convened but has made little progress to date due to formal charges being laid in several cases. In May 2005, the commission of enquiry was restructured to investigate only those cases where charges had not been laid.

In March 2006 assistant police commissioner Clinton Rickards and former police officers Brad Shipton and Bob Schollum were charged with raping and sexually abusing Louise Nicholas in Rotorua during in the 1980s. Rickards attended the High Court for the first day's hearing on 13 March 2006 wearing police uniform, contravening police regulations forbidding an officer from wearing uniform while on suspension. He had been suspended on full pay for two years from the time the charges were laid. The defendants claimed all sex was consensual and all were found not guilty on 31 March 2006^[1][2][3]. Subsequently, pamphlets and emails about two of the defendants were spread widely in defiance of previous court suppression orders. ^[4]

In February 2007 the same three men faced historic charges of kidnapping and indecent assault for the pack rape of a 16-year-old woman with a whisky bottle that took place in the early 1980s.

While the three men were acquitted in both cases, suppression orders that had been in operation for three court cases involving the men were then lifted. Information that had been kept from both juries (but was widely distributed following the 2006 not guilty verdicts) was then allowed to be publicly released: Brad Shipton and Bob Schollum were convicted in 2005 of another historic pack rape with an object and are currently serving lengthy prison sentences for this crime.^[5]

The police future of Clint Rickards, the former Assistant Police Commissioner who has been suspended from this position on full pay since early 2004, remained undecided, although police sources have indicated that it is considered unlikely that he will be reappointed to this position following the controversy over these cases and the acquittals which have no doubt tarnished the reputation of police in New Zealand.^[6]

In 2004 and 2005, the police were criticised over several incidents in which callers to the Police Communications Centres, particularly those using the 1-1-1 emergency telephone number, are alleged to have received inadequate responses.

In October 2004, under sustained political scrutiny for these apparent systemic problems in the Communications Centres, and after the Iraena Asher incident received a lot of publicity and a whistleblowing employee resigned, the Commissioner of Police ordered an Independent Review into the Communications Centres. On May 11, 2005, the Review Panel released a report into the service that the Commissioner described as provocative, and others called "damning" ^[7]. It criticised the service for systemic failures and inadequate management, and expressed ongoing concerns for public safety. Police acted on the recommendations of the review with a number of initiatives, including increasing communications centre staff numbers ^[8] and then initiating a demonstration project for a future Single Non-Emergency Number (SNEN) ^[9][10][11] centre, to reduce the load on the 111 service.

In November 2004, police IT staff secretly cloned the police e-mail system and subjected it to forensic analysis. Over 300 employees were found to have what were considered "inappropriate" e-mail images, many sexually explicit. Many were subjected to internal disciplinary procedures and counselling. No criminal charges were laid however 351 staff members were required to attend Insight Training seminars between May 2005 and June 2006. The total cost of these seminars was $163,746 including $22,127 for venues and meals at conference centres around the country ^[12].

The Police Commissioner was politically criticised for being too soft with his staff, despite initiating the investigation and pro actively making the findings of the investigation public before employees were even confronted and questioned about the e-mails concerned. This investigation is said to have prompted further investigations amongst other government agencies.

After a sergeant was found guilty in February 2005 of assault and prisoner abuse in a South Auckland police station, there were claims that the practices were endemic in the police, and strange dark humour photographs surfaced. An investigation into "Police Culture" reported on 10 October 2005 that while the defunct Emergency Response Group at Counties-Manukau used excessive force and took inappropriate and degrading photographs of people in custody, there was no nationwide problem with police culture ^[13].

Following reductions in recorded crime in 2004 combined with increases in resolved offences, suggestions were made by both politicians, and some police officers, that statistics were being "cooked" or unethically reported and resolved by the Police, especially with the use of "custody clearances" for already convicted offenders ^[14][15]. The Police and the Police Minister have refuted these allegations ^[16], stating that the clearances concerned make up only 0.9% of all cleared crime and have been used consistently for many years.

The New Zealand Police Taser trial commenced on Friday 1 September 2006 for a twelve month period^[17]. Some opposition to the trial has been expressed by various people, including Māori Party police spokesperson Hone Harawira, Green party police spokesperson, Keith Locke ^[18], and several high profile individuals including Barrister, Marie Dyhrberg and Sir Paul Reeves who have formed a lobby group hosting a blog website ^[19] opposing their use^[20]. The first person to be tasered was an 18 year old after an incident in the Auckland suburb of Western Springs on 8 September 2006^[21].

• Official website
• Police Act Review Website
• Official website Statistics information