Police Commissioner Howard Broad said today that he had a very cordial and positive meeting with the Chief Executive of the Department of Corrections, Barry Matthews, to discuss issues relating to Graeme Burton.
"I am satisfied that there was good collaboration between Wellington district Police and probation officers in the Department of Corrections over this matter.
"Everyone was working within agreed policies. The Police raised a concern based on what they suspected about Burton's activities. For operational reasons Wellington staff chose not to provide this information in affidavit form.
"Police continued to investigate Mr Burton's activities at the same time as the Probation Service continued to monitor his parole conditions and that then resulted in warrants to arrest being issued later in December.
"Comment attributed to Police staff appears to criticise Probation Service staff. Clearly the Probation Service was acting properly within the law by asking for the information in written form. Equally, Police made a judgement in declining to provide information that had they done so could have been subject to wider disclosure.
"I am satisfied that on the information available to me at this point that Police's judgement in the matter was appropriate.
"Police are very focussed right now on the prosecution case against Mr Burton and will do nothing to prejudice that prosecution. We are at one with the Department of Corrections, however, in taking maximum learnings from this case for application in future cases," said Mr Broad.
ENDS
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