PETERS REITERATES CALL FOR INDEPENDENT BODY TO REPLACE POLICE COMPLAINTS AUTHORITY
Following up concerns he first raised publicly whilst Deputy Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Winston Peters MP, Leader of New
Zealand First, today said the not guilty verdict in the Joe Karam defamation case highlighted serious questions
regarding the Police Investigation into the murder of the Bain family.
Mr Peters also reiterated his longstanding call for an independent body to replace the existing Police Complaints
Authority.
“Not because the Police have necessarily done anything wrong but because the public need to have their confidence
restored in the process and be assured that internal investigations are conducted impartially and without bias from
within,” said Mr Peters.
Mr Peters also applauded the Auckland District Law Society for releasing a paper on this issue and supporting the
Attorney General’s call for a review of the Police Complaints Authority and, in particular, that the proposed review
should “examine fully the question of whether or not the public can ever be confident in the independence of decisions
of the PCA where investigations are carried out by other police officers and not by independent investigators employed
by either a separate body or from within the PCA itself”.
“This is a serious issue of accountability that needs to be addressed by government and debated with the public,” said
Mr Peters.
ENDS