One News
February 2, 2004

Pressure over Rickards inquiry

The government is coming under pressure to order a full independent inquiry into rape allegations against Auckland's most senior policeman.

Assistant Commissioner Clint Rickards and two former policemen have been accused of sexually violating a woman in 1986.

There have already been two police investigations into what happened but the woman, Louise Nicholas, claims they both failed to uncover the truth.

Rickards is now on voluntary leave and has indicated he will co-operate fully with the fresh police inquiry.

But Nicholas says she does not want the police to investigate.

"They can't investigate it because my belief is that they're going to put it under the carpet again and that just cannot happen, not this time," she says.

The internal investigations into the alleged incident stalled because of a lack of supporting evidence.

Rickards and the two other men - Brad Shipton, now a Tauranga city councillor and Bob Schollum, now a car salesman - were never charged and were therefore never officially cleared of any wrongdoing.

That means a fresh criminal inquiry is still possible.

It is the inquiry into Nicholas' accusations of a police cover-up which is more complicated.

Constitutional lawyer Mai Chen says the statute that governs the Police Complaints Authority makes it very clear that it is independent.

But she says New Zealand needs reassurance that the matter is going to be authoritatively determined by somebody independent.

"Let's face it - we are talking about the public confidence in the New Zealand police," says Chen.

Although the PCA has more independence now than when it last considered these allegations, Prime Minister Helen Clark has indicated that a wider investigation is being considered.

Whether the investigation will be independent of government as well as the police is unclear.

"It has to have the confidence of the public. No cover-ups. The government has no interest in that and nor does the Police Commissioner or the force," says Clark.

Police Commissioner Rob Robinson ordered the new internal inquiry but he is facing questions himself over appointing Rickards as Assistant Commissioner when he knew about the unresolved sexual allegations.

"The question now remains whether the unproven allegations could or should be taken into account when making employment decisions about someone such as Clint Rickards," says Robinson.

"My advice is that those are matters that I couldn't take into account in employment law."

Cabinet is likely to discuss an independent inquiry on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the PCA has yet to determine what shape its investigation into the rape allegations will take.

The authority was set up in 1988 to investigate allegations of misconduct or neglect of duty by police.

Around 2,500 complaints are made to the PCA every year. It investigates claims of misconduct or neglect of duty, and any police incidents involving death or serious harm.

Greg O'Connor of the Police Association says front-line police welcome civilian oversight of policing. He says it is "absolutely essential" to be able to guarantee the impartiality of police inquiries.

Anybody can make a complaint if they think they have been unfairly treated by the police.

Those complaints can be filed with the police, the courts, the Ombudsman, or laid directly with the PCA.

The authority then chooses one of three ways to investigate - by using local police, a team of both police and authority investigators, or authority investigators alone.

The PCA has been dogged by questions about its independence since it was established.

A review of the authority was conducted three years ago. As a result two former top police officers - Norman Cook and Allan Galbraith - along with two former overseas officers have been added to strengthen the authority's investigation team.

This team deals with the most serious complaints and is likely to investigate the current rape claims made by Nicholas.