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National

National Council of Women concerned after police failings highlighted in IPCA report

The National Council of Women of New Zealand says the continued systemic and cultural failings within the New Zealand Police are a huge concern.

Police failures were highlighted yesterday following the release of the Independent Police Conduct Authority’s report on how the ‘Roast Busters’ case was initially handled.

The report outlined numerous deficiencies in Police handling of the cases and focused on the individual officers involved outlining poor individual practice.

The findings also included police breached their own policy which says investigations of child abuse must be undertaken even if a young person withdraws their complaint.

They also failed to check whether the young men had been involved in previous incidents.

Police Commissioner Mike Bush said yesterday, “I unreservedly apologise to those people, that’s why I sit here as the Commissioner, that we accept that our investigation fell short.”

The National Council of Women of New Zealand President, Rae Duff believes that given the breadth, number and nature of the Police failings there are wider factors at play.

“The IPCA report finds that the Police treated the victims with compassion and dignity. This appears however to be a surface response as their actions showed they did not care or try hard enough to get justice for the victims.”

The IPCA have asked Police to undertake a number of actions, including determining whether policy or practice needs to be addressed. Rae Duff said she expected that a review would find further work needs to be done.

Rae Duff says, "Previous reports have highlighted issues with police culture. While the IPCA report recognises that Police have improved as a result, it’s still not good enough."