Thursday 17 February 2011

The Independent Police Conduct Authority is urging Police to continue the momentum for positive change in child abuse investigations, after finding serious failures in the Wairarapa and elsewhere.

The Authority has released Part II of its Inquiry into Police Conduct, Practices, Policies and Procedures Relating to the Investigation of Child Abuse.

Part I of the Inquiry was released in May 2010, partway through the inquiry that had been sparked by the discovery of a backlog of more than 100 child abuse files in which there had been little or no progress. It made 34 specific recommendations for immediate improvements to Police systems. The Police responded positively, and Commissioner Howard Broad established a Child Protection Implementation Project Team that has since led substantial changes to Police policies, practices, and procedures.

Part II of the Inquiry has focused on the nature of, and reasons for, the failures which occurred in the investigation of child abuse in the Wairarapa and elsewhere, and it also examined the response of Police National Headquarters (PNHQ) and the response by Districts. The report deals with the systemic issues behind the failures, and notes that Police employment processes remain ongoing for some of the individual officers involved.

Under the Independent Police Conduct Authority Act 1988, the Authority is empowered to determine whether any Police act or failure to act was contrary to law, unreasonable, unjustified, unfair or undesirable.

The Authority Chair, Justice Lowell Goddard, said the scale of the inquiry had been unprecedented for the Authority.

“The Authority has concluded there were serious failures in the Police investigation of child abuse, which must never be repeated. However in the course of its inquiry the Authority also heard from many dedicated and committed Police officers, and is confident that they are representative of the majority of officers involved in child abuse investigations,” said Justice Goddard.

“It is imperative that child abuse cases must be reported to Police. The public can have every confidence that Police are committed to ensuring a consistently high standard of service in the investigation of child abuse,” said Justice Goddard.

“It is essential that the momentum for positive change resulting from this Inquiry is not lost. In addition to the 34 recommendations in the Part I report, the Authority recommends that the Child Protection Implementation Project Team have its mandate extended for at least one year, to continue overseeing the response to the Authority’s inquiry,” said Justice Goddard.

ENDS

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