Tompkins report concerning the Counties-Manukau Police District

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Report of the Hon Sir David Tompkins QC
to the Commissioner of Police
concerning the Counties Manukau Police District

Thursday 29 September 2005


Background

In February 2005 charges of assault laid against Senior Sergeant Solomona were heard in the District Court at Manukau. During the hearing, evidence was given of certain photographs said to have been in the possession of the Senior Sergeant. As a consequence of these references and evidence given concerning them, the District Court Judge, in his judgment delivered on 2 March 2005, referred to the practice of taking photographs of suspects or offenders of a demeaning kind and recorded his impression from the evidence that this practice maybe widespread, especially in the South Auckland area. Referring to evidence that this was regarded by the police as a joke, he observed that "the culture is as sick as the joke".

These observations, and the widespread media publicity they attracted, caused the Commissioner of Police to set up an internal police inquiry that was named Operation Reason. On 4 March 2005, I was asked to oversee the inquiry and to report my findings to the Commissioner. This report describes the investigations that were carried out and my findings resulting from them.

Under my oversight, the enquiry was undertaken by a team of three senior police officers ("the enquiry team") over a period of approximately three months. Initially the enquiry team was headed by Inspector Pieter Roozendahl. He was not able to continue, and was replaced by Inspector Allan Boreham. Pending Inspector Boreham taking over on 18 April 2005, the enquiry was managed by Superintendent Graeme Cairns. The other two members of the enquiry team were Senior Sergeant Lance Burdett and Senior Sergeant Chris Powell. Mr Jayson Rhodes, Manager - Communications for North Shore Waitakere Rodney managed the media side of the investigation.

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Summary of findings

My findings resulting from the enquiry are:

  1. There was a practice of taking degrading and inappropriate photographs of arrested persons. This practice was limited to a relatively few officers, all connected to the now disbanded Emergency Response Group ("the ER Group"). There is no evidence of the practice since the ER Group was disbanded on 31 March 2004.

  2. There were a number of instances reported, approximately twenty over a period of some five years, of police officers adopting an overly aggressive stance resulting in the use of excessive force, mostly during the arrest process, but also at police stations. These instances related mostly, but not exclusively, to members of the ER Group and senior NCOs with a history of complaints. Although the use of excessive force has been reduced, it has probably not been eliminated.

  3. The practice of taking inappropriate photographs referred to in [a] and the use of excessive force referred to in [b] did not amount to a culture of excessive violence or inappropriate conduct within the terms of reference, as they were not practices adopted or condoned by a significant number of police in the Counties-Manukau Police District. Rather they are indicative of some localised issues around the now disbanded ER Group.

  4. In most but not all of the instances referred to in [a] and [b], the "blue code of silence" resulted their not being reported.

  5. The Counties-Manukau Police District is a more demanding and violent district to police than other New Zealand police districts. It has more serious crime events in absolute terms, by population and by severity i.e. as a percentage of all events logged. The differences between Counties-Manukau and other metropolitan centres are large and statistically significant.

  6. As a consequence of [e], there are a higher number of severe assaults on police than are experienced in comparable districts.

  7. There are more complaints against police officers in the Counties-Manukau Police District than in comparable districts. At more than 200 a year, the number of complaints has been consistently above the national average. Most, but not all, of the complaints have been properly recorded and investigated. The enquiry team did not find evidence of complaints involving Criminal Investigation Branch, non-sworn staff or specialist Road Policing officers.

  8. The Counties-Manukau Police District is policed by a high proportion of relatively junior police officers. Staffing numbers have been under strength. Supervisory positions such as Sergeant and Senior Sergeant have been filled by junior officers acting in a temporary role for longer than desirable. There have been a high number of vacancies, which tend to be filled with inexperienced staff.

  9. The public has a level of confidence in the police in the Counties-Manukau Police district that is lower than the average satisfaction rating of the 12 districts.

  10. Several steps have been taken to improve the standard of policing in the Counties-Manukau Police District.

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Table of contents

Introduction

Summary of Findings

Terms of reference
    Overseeing the enquiry
    The Solomona trial

Counties-Manukau Police District
    The Nature of the District
    Counties-Manukau Police District data
    Violence in the Counties-Manukau Police District
    The Emergency Response Group
    Team Policing Unit

The Enquiry Method

Investigative Phase
    Preparatory phase
    Publicity phase
    Analysis of responses
    Actions to mitigate the problems
    Conclusion on investigative phase

Canvass Phase
    External Agencies
    Prisoners
    Former Staff
    Police Association
    Current Staff
    Current Staff (former UK)
    Current Staff (non sworn)
    Visiting Staff - Operation Cavalry
    Key Personnel Interviews
    Conclusion on the Canvass Phase

Complaints Review Phase
    The Aggregate Level Complaints
    The Randomly Selected PCA Files
    Public Service Analysis
    Conclusion on the Complaints Review Phase

Context Phase
    Workloads, violence, offending
    Staffing features
    Conclusion on Context Phase

Photographic Phase
    The Stand-alone Computer
    The "W" photograph
    The KAM3 Photographs
    Two or Three Photographs
    Other Photographs
    The Machete Photograph
    Conclusion on the Photographic Phase

Policies to Improve Policing Standards
    Statement of Vision and Values
    Quality Policing training
    Operation Step-Up
    Vacancies
    Early intervention policy
    District training packages
    Ethics committee

Acknowledgments

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