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.