Allegations of Sexual
Abuse |
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The hearing today signals the
start of 3-1/2 months of hearings that will put police and the way they have
handled complaints of sexual abuse by officers during the past 25 years under
the spotlight. The commission will hear how
police officers were expected and required to respond when an allegation of
sexual assault was made against another police officer. In January, Rotorua woman Louise
Nicholas alleged she was pack-raped and violated with a police baton by three
police officers in 1986 when she was aged 18. Police national planning and
policy manager Dave Trappitt said that there had been several different
policies and procedures, over the 25 years covered by the commission,
relating to how sexual complaints and internal investigations against other
police officers were handled. While policies and procedures were
changed several times, officers were alerted to changes through memos,
internal publications and updated hard-copy and electronic manuals. Included in these policies and
procedures were specific instructions relating to how rape inquiries and
inquiries relating to other police officers should be handled. While these had been streamlined
over the years, instructions relating to the handling of internal inquiries
had only changed slightly since 1985. Internal memoranda from the
commissioner of police in the early 1980's specifically instructed police to
treat criminal complaints against police as they would other cases. Police were instructed not to warn
complainants of the possible consequences of making a false complaint against
a police officer. They were also instructed to
notify police headquarters of all serious criminal complaints against police.
The commissions started today's
hearing behind schedule after initial information gathering was delayed by
blanket secrecy provisions in the Police Complaints Authority Act that
protect the identity of informants. Two officers alleged to have raped
Ms Nicolas, Bob Schollum and Brad Shipton, have since left the police. The third, Former Rotorua CIB chief John
Dewar is accused of having failed to properly investigate Mrs Nicholas'
original complaint. Following the allegations, another
senior police officer, Kelvin Powell, has also been stood down on full pay
while police investigate complaints of sexual offences. He has denied any wrongdoing. In the commission's first public
meeting in March, High Court Judge Justice Bruce Robertson, who heads the
inquiry with Dame Margaret Bazley, said he was unsure whether it could report
back to the government by its November deadline. A law change was rushed through
Parliament to allow commission staff to see the files. A commission spokesman said
yesterday he could not say when evidence from those alleging their complaints
had been mishandled would be heard because it was still being collected. |