There have been two recent incidence that have come to light that re-ignite my desire to see a significant change in the way complaints about Police behaviour in New Zealand are managed. They both involve what appear to be prima facae cases of the misuse of pepper spray on handcuffed persons.
It is important to firstly realise the scope of the powers Police in New Zealand have. These powers have increased significantly over the years and continue to do so. During that time we have seen little movement on protecting citizens against the misuse of these powers, with the notable exception of the Bill of Rights.
We currently have a Police Complaints Authority. If you feel the Police have wronged you, you are entitled to complain. The PCA then get a current or former Police officer to investigate and report. The chances of you being successful are small and I am left with the feeling that the tables are rigged.
I feel there is significant injustice happening here and it happens generally to people who can not do anything about it.
I would like to see some changes.
As much as I despise adding more government employees to the payroll, I would like to see the Police Complaints Authority become a completely independent organisation with its own investigators. There should be a requirement that the staff of the Authority must be seen to be independent (ie no ex-cops).
I would also like to see legislation changed so that every death caused by a Police officer or while a person is in the charge of a Police officer is prosecuted (no ifs, buts or maybes). If a Police officer shots a person charging at them with a shotgun then it is going to not even get passed the JP process, and rightly so. Arguments against this approach on the grounds of cost are rubbish and should be contrasted to the loss of a life.
I believe these two changes will redress the balance of power (or should I say misbalance of power) that Police now enjoy and seem to be abusing. They will cause a change in Police culture. Hopefully that change will be a realisation that if they do something bad, they will be investigated.
You might think I am being very critical of New Zealand's Police. I want to be clear that I am saying there appears to be systematic abuse of power. I want to suggest that this appears to be endemic. However I am not saying that all Police officers have gone over to the dark side. I do want to say that it seems like it has swung well past being just a few rotten apples.
We need to sort this out.
1 comment:
Well it is interesting that there was only one comment left on this blog entry. I think it is a fascinating subject and one that as a country we will have to deal with soon. I had hoped to see a few more thoughts.
Some quick responses...
>It is very hard to be independent when you have spent a good part of your life doing a particular job. Even when you endeavour to be independent or impartial, it is difficult. I am sure the current staff of the PCA do the best they can. But they are put in a very difficult situation. Particularly when a serving cop is used for the investigation
>Perception of independence is very important here, regardless of cost. For issues like this we should front up to the full cost - not take the cheap way out.
>It is a fallacy to suggest that other occupations do not have the skill sets required for this job. Skill sets are transferrable between defferent jobs.
I also wanted to make some overarching comments on the article based on feedback I have had directly. I want to say there are some very good cops out there. They do a great job and deal with some very difficult situations (situations I want nothing to do with).
However there are too many incidences occuring where cops are overstepping the mark. Police officers have a lot of power. With power should come responsibility and accountability. In this blog article I am asserting that given the number of incidences recently, there is every indication that we have moved from the occassional bad apple scenario to a more systemic scenario.
As a society we need to decide whether we are prepare to accept the current level of incidences or not. Personally, I am not prepared to.
An interesting thought... has anyone heard what has happened with the dude at the Fight for Life who got pepper sprayed while handcuffed lying on his back on the ground (in full view of TV3's cameras)? Is the police officer who sprayed the pepper spray still on duty?
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