Manawatu Standard
March 23, 2004
Policing the police is no easy task
Editorial
If there is one
good thing that might come out of the commission of inquiry about to begin work
into police rape allegations, it is that the Police Complaints Authority may
get sharper and more effective teeth.
Legislation to reform the authority is on hold until the commission reports back
to the Government, and is scheduled to happen in November. As it presently
configured, the Independent Police Complaints Authority Bill would increase
membership of the authority from one to three, with the chairperson a retired
judge. In the meantime, the appointment of four independent investigators has
improved its ability to investigate complaints, which at last count were coming
in at a rate of about 45 a week, or nearly 3000 a year.
The fallout from recent 18-year-old claims of pack rape have done the police
much damage as the "no smoke without fire" syndrome has taken firm
hold in the public mind. No-one can be sure yet where the commission's inquiry
will lead or what it might find.
So it would be premature and quite destructive of notions of natural justice to
make pronouncements as to the merits of anyone's case. But what can be said at
this stage is that confidence, being the fragile thing that it is, is seriously
at threat because of the melee of claims which have been flying about. So the
sooner it is restored, the better.
It may well be that there are structural things within the police force which
need fixing, and indeed it is part of the commission's brief to inquire into
such matters as police standards and codes in relation to personal behaviour
and sexual conduct. There has been much talk of a corrosive police
"culture" which has influenced how people behaved – and one way or
another still does, of course. And there have been the seemingly-inevitable
allegations of a "cone of silence" descending when it comes to the
police policing themselves, a closing of the ranks. The other side of the coin
is the contention is that there is nobody harder on the police than the police
themselves because they understand how the system works and they don't want the
organisation for which they work damaged by the behaviour of a few miscreants.
Our police have a worldwide reputation for not being corrupt, and reputation,
like confidence, is to be jealously guarded. But given recently-revealed
events, the question has to be asked whether the complaints authority will ever
have enough money to be a truly independent body, and if this is not to be the
case, what that might mean for the future credibility of the force. The
politicians are promising a "fair and robust" complaints process, but
the public will have to suspend judgement on that, it seems, at least until the
commission finishes its work. The issues which surely go to the heart of the
matter include whether we expect our police to be somehow different from the
rest of society, how realistic such expectations might be, and what checks and
balances are in place to ensure the power they hold is not unbridled.
One more thing: Sunday mornings down Otaki way won't
be the same again for a while after last weekend's war games shattered the
early peace. But the Army, to its credit, says it is going to front up at a
Neighbourhood Watch meeting and apologise for what happened. With due respect
to the territorials' enthusiasm, this is not the kind
of training exercise likely to cement civilian-Army relations.