The Dominion Post
August 31 2004

Police probe may be held in private
By NZPA and Staff Reporter

Evidence to a commission of inquiry on police conduct could be heard behind closed doors.

Prime Minister Helen Clark said yesterday that was an option, after last week's announcement that the inquiry was on hold, possibly for years, till an investigation decided if police officers facing rape allegations should be charged.

Commissioners Justice Bruce Robertson and Dame Margaret Bazley said there was a "very real risk" that police investigations into rape claims could be contaminated by the commission proceeding.

Miss Clark said a closed-doors inquiry was an option. "I think there are ways of them running simultaneously but they're going to have to judge what that is. They may well have to hear in private, if they were running simultaneously, but then make everything available publicly."

The inquiry into the way police have handled complaints of sexual abuse by officers in the past 25 years has been adjourned to late October as the commissioners mull whether evidence can be heard before any criminal proceedings are over.