Allegations of abuse by NZ Police
	peterellis Home / police allegations / Rickards, Shipton, Schollum vs Jane Doe Page 6 - Further Reaction to Not Guilty Verdict
	One News March 5 2007 Pressure on Rickards intensifies There is new pressure on Assistant Police Commissioner Clint Rickards to step back on resuming his job as Auckland District Police Commander. Auckland Mayor Dick Hubbard has spoken out against Rickards returning in his city, saying he believes police in Auckland would lose the respect of the public if that happened. He says if Rickards values the role of police, he will know he cannot come back to work. Hubbard is urging him to remember the Police College oath he took as he fights for his job.  He says the oath involves bringing respect and dignity to the force and he says the actions of Rickards do not do that. Hubbard says even though Rickards has been cleared of all charges, the damage has been done.  He says it is clear a police officer's moral standards have to be above the minimum required by law. He says the standard of his behaviour is unacceptable and believes women in Auckland would not feel safe if Rickards was back at the helm. Prime Minister Helen Clark says she is shocked at allegations of police misconduct and hopes it does not affect the police force as a whole. She says the worrying issue underlying everything is what she terms an abuse of power. "There's some absolutely terrible things going on [with] at least one set of police around one regional area. Where I feel extremely sorry for our police, is that overwhelmingly we have good decent people doing the right thing by their families and their communities and the horror they feel when they see some people let everybody down, I can just feel for them." She says she will not comment on whether Rickards should return as Auckland District Commander as it is an employment matter. However the head of the Police Association, Greg O'Connor, says he does not believe the police sex trials and ongoing allegations of misconduct against police officers, are hurting the force's image. "I think the public are able to differentiate the alleged actions of officers of this time with current policing, particularly as more details come forward it's quite clear that this was isolated to a certain number of people in a very small area and a long time ago." Hubbard's stand follows comments by Rickards after his acquittal on indecent assault and kidnapping charges last week. He labelled the police investigation into the case a shambles, and defended co-accused former officers Bob Schollum and Brad Shipton, who are serving time for rape in another case. Hubbard is considering whether to make a formal submission not to let Rickards back in. Rickards' lawyer John Haigh QC says he is not prepared to talk to anyone at the moment as he awaits a Police Commission decision on whether and when he can return to work. Haigh also will not comment on whether Rickards will be heading back to work on Monday.