NZ Herald
September 30 2004
Workload surge taxes watchdog
by Louisa Cleave
The
police Complaints Authority is struggling to clear a two-year backlog of
complaints.
Authority
head Judge Ian Borrin says he is concerned about the
stress being placed on staff.
He says
his annual report next month would show a 10 per cent increase in the number of
people who lodged a complaint - and in many cases more than one complaint - in
the year to June.
Figures
for the current financial year will be released at the end of October or early
November but Judge Borrin indicated that between 150
and 200 more people lodged complaints than in the previous year. The
authority's work includes reviewing cases involving 23 police officers charged
with criminal offences last year.
"The
increase is significant in terms of workload in what is a small office and
ultimately, in terms of the consideration of the facts of the matter, is a
significant amount of work," Judge Borrin told
the Weekend Herald.
He had
recently discussed extra funding with the Ministry of Justice for his office,
which has a total of 19 staff, including part-timers.
"Because
of the pressure that we are under - and everyone in this office is working as
hard as they possibly can, indeed I sometimes wonder if I'm not putting them
under unfair or unreasonable stress and workload - I have been in discussion
with the Ministry of Justice about getting us some more help."
Judge Borrin said he had asked for more resourcing
because the authority's new structure as the Independent Police Complaints
Authority had been held up by the Commission of Inquiry into historical
allegations of rape by police officers.
The new
structure, which will see the authority grow from a one-person body to a
three-person body, was to have been in place by October.
Justice Minister Phil Goff is overseas and unavailable for
comment.
Last
month he said the authority was sufficiently resourced to deal with the backlog.
In
response to questions from National MP Richard Worth, Mr Goff said the
authority had 1770 open files.
"Resources
are not currently considered to be insufficient, however, and particularly in
light of the changes proposed by the Independent Police Complaints Authority
Amendment Bill, consideration is being given to the appropriate level of
resources that may be required in future."
Mr Worth
said the backlog called for a detailed financial review of the authority to
find out whether it was properly resourced.
Judge Borrin said two factors had
contributed to the increased workload - publicity surrounding the Commission of
Inquiry and the police zero tolerance approach to road safety and traffic
enforcement.
He said
many complaints were held up by "external" matters such as court
cases but the increased workload meant some files were unresolved after two
years. "As soon as we got into this situation of excessive load we decided
we would not solve the problem [by lowering standards] so it means that some of
our matters are not completed as promptly as we would like."
The
authority hired its own independent investigators late last year and they had
been involved in major inquiries, including police pursuits and the police
fatal shooting of Iraqi refugee Haidar Mahdi in Pakuranga.
Complaints
* The Police Complaints Authority received 2876 complaints
from 1780 people in the June 2003 year.
* This
year's figure is expected to show a 10 per cent jump in complainants.
* Last
year about 85 per cent of complaints were accepted for investigation.