NZ Herald
February 6, 2004
Police HQ orders staff to close ranks on past culture in the force
by Jo-Marie Brown and NZPA
Police officers
have been warned not to speak out about the culture that existed within the
force at the time Louise Nicholas says she was pack-raped.
In a memo circulated to staff, the general manager of public affairs at police
national headquarters, Michael Player, said staff should not respond to any media
requests for information about what their working lives were like in past
decades.
The clampdown comes just days after Prime Minister Helen Clark announced a
commission of inquiry, following Mrs Nicholas' claims three police pack-raped
her in Rotorua in 1986 when she was 18.
All three have strenuously denied the allegations. The only one still in the
force, Assistant Commissioner Clint Rickards, has been stood down on full pay
as a criminal investigation gets under way.
Southern police boss Superintendent Nick Perry was last night named to lead a
team of 13 officers.
The separate commission of inquiry will consider wider issues within the police
force.
In his memo, Mr Player instructed staff not to speak about any of the issues
raised by Mrs Nicholas' case, "and in particular, the police
culture".
News of the inquiry has brought further claims of rape by police. An Auckland
Sexual Abuse Help Foundation counsellor, Caroline Day, said she knew of four
cases in the past 18 months where such rape complaints had not led to
prosecutions.
She said police persuaded at least one woman that her claim would not stand up
in court.
Former Police Association secretary Bob Moodie said
he knew of another case involving a female police officer who did not pursue her
claim of rape by a male colleague.
"She wouldn't complain and the reason she wouldn't is because she had no
confidence her complaint would ever be investigated."
Dr Moodie believed police culture had improved in
recent years.
"The attitude of young males towards women was different. We were like
young bulls in a paddock."
Police Association president Greg O'Connor said officers were expected to work
a lot harder now and there was much greater accountability.
"A police officer who gets a complaint made against them will be subject
to much more rigorous investigating and disciplinary processes then they have
been in the past."