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Calls to give the police watchdog the power to prosecute rogue officers have been brushed off by the organisation’s new chairperson.
Critics have labelled the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA), which recently released its report into police actions during the parliamentary occupation, “toothless” because it can only make recommendations. It looks into about 4500 complaints each year.
Newsroom reported outgoing IPCA chair Judge Doherty as saying the IPCA should have the ability to prosecute, citing police reluctance to hold their peers accountable as a reason why officers were not prosecuted to the extent non-sworn citizens were.
However, successor Judge Kenneth Johnston KC, who took over eight weeks ago, said prosecutorial powers would not be a positive step, as this would “radically” alter the relationship between the IPCA and the force they observe.
JUAN ZARAMA PERINI/The Post
IPCA chairperson Judge Kenneth Johnston does not believe the organisation should have prosecutorial powers.
Johnston said, of the five million engagements New Zealand’s police force had each year, less than 1% result in complaints.
The number of serious issues reported was “almost vanishingly small”. Only a small portion ended up the subject of full investigations, he said, but there was always more the IPCA can do.
Doherty’s intent was to simply raise whether it was time to have a debate on the issue, Johnston said.
“All he was really saying was, it’s obviously something that the IPCA doesn’t have, at the moment, the ability to require prosecution or police officers. All we have all we have is an ability to recommend, and maybe it’s time to talk about that.”
At present, if the police decided not to prosecute following a recommendation by the IPCA, they would have to explain why, Johnston said.
If the IPCA continued to hold the view that prosecution needed to take place, it could take its recommendation before Parliament.
While this had never taken place before, it could, Johnston said. The fact that police had never disregarded an IPCA recommendation to prosecute showed they took the findings “very seriously.”
ROSA WOODS/Stuff
Former IPCA chairperson Judge Colin Doherty has suggested greater prosecution powers could be helpful. (File photo)
This, to him, struck an adequate constitutional balance.
“It means that we’re not a prosecutorial power, but we can be influential. And that just seems to me to strike the right balance really.”
A police spokesperson said: “The independent oversight provided by the IPCA is an important part of police’s public accountability. It protects the community from abuse of powers, and is valued by police for its role in improving police practice and policy.
“It would be inappropriate for us to comment outside of that.”
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