Avid blog readers will recall that last year I blogged about a rape case where serving policemen were aquitted of charges. The same police were aquitted again in a similar case a few weeks ago.
What came out at this point is that two of the defendents were actually serving prison sentences – you guessed it, for rape.
Before the cases came to court a Commission of Enquiry was established to review allegations of sexual assault and rape against police. 313 complaints of sexual assault against 222 police officers between 1979 and 2005; and 141 of the 313 were regarded as being serious enough to warrant criminal charges or disciplinary action.
The key message is that things have got to change – there are 60 recommendations from the enquiry to be implemented including a code of conduct for Police. It’s fair to say that it’s not been the New Zealand Police’s finest hour.
If you can’t trust your local bobby who can you trust.