Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct

The Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct (COI) was announced in early 2004 following allegations suggesting police officers might have deliberately undermined or mishandled investigations into complaints of sexual assault made against other officers. The Commission was established to carry out a full, independent investigation into the way New Zealand Police had dealt with allegations of sexual assault by a small number of Police officers and their associates.

The report by Commissioner Dame Margaret Bazley was released in 2007 and covered the period from 1979 to 2005.  The report made 60 recommendations: 47 for Police, 12 for the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA), and one for the Government. The recommendations covered several broad themes: how police investigate sexual assault complaints; how complaints against police are handled; behaviour, performance management and discipline; Police’s diversity, inclusion and the health of the organisation; and policy, practice and processes. Police committed to fully implementing the recommendations.

Fifteen years of change

Just over fifteen years on from the report of the Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct, Police has published a final report of its recent work in line with the themes addressed by the report and commissioned a final review by an independent expert.

'Fifteen years of change 2007 - 2022'

Expert review

A decade of change

Police’s progress against the Commission of Inquiry’s 47 Police-related recommendations was monitored for ten years by the Office of the Auditor-General. At the completion of that monitoring period, Police committed to making ongoing advances in each thematic area. Police released a summary of progress against the recommendation themes and a reference guide noting progress against each individual recommendation. In addition, two independent reviews were commissioned by Police.

'A decade of change 2007-2017'

A summary of how Police has actioned the 47 police-specific recommendations from the Commission of Inquiry (COI) into Police Conduct.

'At a glance'

A quick reference guide to the 47 Police-specific COI recommendations, organised recommendation-by-recommendation.

Expert reviews

Two independent reviews commissioned from experts on policing and ethics, to help gauge progress in implementing the Police-specific COI recommendations.

Monitoring and reporting

A ten-year monitoring and reporting regime was put in place to track the progress of the implementation of the Commission’s recommendations. The monitoring period ran from 1 April 2007 until 31 March 2017.

The monitoring and reporting regime incorporates the following:

Commission of Inquiry report

Visit the New Zealand Parliament website to view the full Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct report.