Report of the New Zealand Police
for the year ended 30 June 2005
Presented to the House of Representatives pursuant to section 34A of the Public Finance Act 1989 Police Oath
ISSN 1176-2497
Commissioner’s overview
Introduction
The 2004/05 . nancial year has been a productive but challenging one for New Zealand Police. Districts continued to make excellent progress in reducing crime and crashes and improving community safety. However it has also been a year where the reputation of the Police was scrutinised.
Deaths on duty
Two officers died in tragic circumstances while on duty in 2004/05.
Senior Constable Phillip (Piripi) Wipatene was killed on duty when his Highway Patrol vehicle collided Taranaki on 15 July 2004. Constable Wipatene is sadly missed by his colleagues. He started his career with the Ministry of Transport and joined the Highway Patrol in 2002.
Detective Travis Hughes of Queenstown died in a light aircraft crash in the Gibbston Valley area while on a routine cannabis reconnaissance fl ight in January this year. Detective Hughes was a highly regarded police offi cer. The aircraft in which he perished was piloted by Mr Chris Scott of the Bay of Plenty. Mr Scott had for many years piloted cannabis reconnaissance aircraft members throughout the country.
Operational Activities
The recorded crime rate continues its downward trend with a further 7.1% drop in recorded crime in the year to 30 June 2005, coupled with a very favourable resolution rate of 44.2%. There has been a 24.4% drop in recorded crime rate per head of population since 1995/96 (which is the earliest year for which we have population estimates calculated).
I would like to thank all the members of New Zealand Police for their hard work and commitment to achieving this fine result.
The year brought its usual operational challenges for our highly skilled criminal investigators with difficult homicide inquiries in several districts. Nevertheless, the homicide statistics dropped by 20% from 100 in 2003/04 to 80 in 2004/05.
In May a letter threatening an outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease on Waiheke Island galvanised Police to provide fi eld support for Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry offi cials as well as instituting a criminal investigation into what turned out to be a hoax.
In June the Lions eleven-match international rugby tour commenced in tandem with visits by several VIPs. The Police focus was on traffic flow to ensure minimum disruption, the security of visitors and monitoring of after-match revelry around licensed premises. The tour passed largely uneventfully from a policing perspective, due to well behaved fans, detailed pre-operational planning, good police work and effective cooperation between the key groups involved.
National Security and Regional Policing
National security and regional policing activities continued to be an important focus for New Zealand Police during the year. As well as working in the South Pacifi c we sent two offi cers to Afghanistan to train police offi cers in the province of Bamiyan.
There is no doubt that our neighbouring region of the South Pacifi c remains the principal focus of our overseas activity. The South Pacifi c Chiefs of Police Conference (SPCPC) opened a permanent Secretariat in Wellington in December 2004. Founded in 1970 as the South Pacifi c Chiefs of Police, the organisation was renamed Pacifi c Islands Chiefs of Police last year to better refl ect its expanded pan-Pacifi c membership. Current membership stands at 21 members representing more than 75,000 serving officers.
The Secretariat has agreed on a three-pronged strategy concentrating on integrity development; communications and cooperation; and capacity building.
New Zealand Police has an ongoing commitment to the region and it is rewarding to see our offi cers leading Police in Niue and fi lling the Deputy Commissioner’s role in the Royal Solomon Islands Police Service.
The Solomon Islands represented a major commitment for us this year, with 35 staff deployed there on rotation as part of RAMSI - the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands.
The largest operation New Zealand Police participated in during the past twelve months was the recovery phase that followed the earthquake and associated tsunami in the Indian Ocean on 26 December 2004. This natural event was spread across a huge geographic region and involved loss of life on a scale I and members of my Executive have never witnessed in our careers. Disaster Victim Identifi cation and Emergency Response Teams were assembled and deployed within a few days of the earthquake as part of a New Zealand response dubbed Operation Phuket. I visited the second contingent of our staff who worked alongside staff from 14 other nations in Thailand. The prolonged process of identifying thousands of bodies was a life-changing experience for all involved.
Operation Phuket reinforced the effective interagency partnerships which are essential to planning and managing large-scale critical events, particularly those involving mass casualties. The experience gained from this event can be applied to other natural disasters or terrorist incidents.
Organisational Developments
it’s pleasing to see that our staffi ng levels have again been up to strength. The rate of resignations and retirements was 4.5% for the year for sworn staff, at the lower end of the range of 4-7% over the last 30 years.
The year was marred by the lengthy investigations into historical allegations of sexual misconduct.
The Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct to consider past allegations of sexual offending and the Police response to those allegations was in recess for much of the year, in order to allow the parallel criminal investigations to take place. Amendments to the COI’s terms of reference enabled the recommencement of its work in parallel to processes in the criminal justice system.
In addition it was very disappointing to have to undertake an investigation into inappropriate use of the Police email system. Over 300 staff were identifi ed as falling into the category of having pornographic material on their work computers. Police hold a privileged position within the community and the public rightly expects all aspects of our behaviour to be beyond reproach.
In October 2004 Police were faced with the tragic disappearance of Iraena Asher in Piha. Ms Asher’s call for help through the 111 service highlighted the pressures on Police staff to appropriately prioritise and respond to calls for service. The Asher case was instrumental in my decision to call for an Independent Review Panel (IRP) report on the Communication Centres.
That report, which I released in May, made 61 recommendations for action to enhance the service provided by the Communications Centres and districts with whom they interact. The appointment of an Advisory Board chaired by well-known businessman, Mr John Perham, in conjunction with a new national manager of Communication Centres and project work centering on the IRP’s recommendations, will clearly address the issues that came to the fore during the reporting period. Government has allocated over $45 million specifi c funding for this work.
The success of New Zealand Police is highly dependent on good leadership and management. We have worked hard, therefore, to develop a values and competency-based framework for leadership and management development designed to increase the capability within the organisation. The introduction of a succession planning pilot across Auckland will produce an individual development report for approximately 60 people, which the individuals and their managers will use to inform their performance appraisal dialogue.
Police successfully migrated from the 30-year-old Law Enforcement Computer System to the National Intelligence Application platform. This brought to a conclusion a four-year project involving the movement of core police information functions in six phases.
Trials of Stab Resistant Body Armour were undertaken with a view to equipping staff with it in the year ahead. An announcement was also made for replacement of Remington rifl es with a new firearm - the Bushmaster XM15 M4A3. The Remington 7 has been in use since 1993 and has served New Zealand Police well. Its replacement was chosen for its reliability, serviceability, operator maintenance capability and compatibility.
We also made good progress with our station replacement programme in 2004/05. New stations were opened at Morrinsville (September 2004), Richmond (October 2004), Glen Innes (January 2005) and Ohakune (April 2005). The Auckland Firing Range was also completed during the year (September 2004).
Conclusion
The year has been one of high visibility for the organisation.
It is testimony to the professionalism of the members of New Zealand Police that very good operational results were maintained in the face of negative public attention.
I have pledged the commitment of the organisation to respond positively to the forthcoming recommendations from the Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct. Meanwhile we will do what we do best and that is to deliver policing services to the citizens of New Zealand "without favour or affection, malice or ill will".
Rob Robinson
COMMISSIONER OF POLICE
Table of contents
Commissioner’s Overview
Outcome Report
Police’s 3 - 5 Year Outcome Priorities
Police Outcome: Reduce Violence
Police Outcome: Reduce Burglary
Police Outcome: Reduce Vehicle Crime
Police Outcome: Reduce Organised Criminal Activity
Police Outcome: Increase National Security
Police Outcome: Enhance Road Safety
Reducing Inequalities
Overview
Key Intervention: Responsiveness to At-Risk Families
Key Intervention: Drugs and Alcohol
Key Intervention: Responsiveness to Young People
Key Intervention: Maori Responsiveness
Key Intervention: Pacifi c Peoples Responsiveness
Key Intervention: Ethnic Responsiveness
EEO and Diversity
Organisational Development
Service
Capability
Integrity
Organisational Performance
Resource Deployment
Management of Key Risks
Statement of Objectives and Service Performance 3
Statement of Responsibility
Output Class Three - Specifi c Crime Prevention Servic
Output Class Six - Case Resolution an
Output Class One - Policy Advice and Ministerial Servicing
Output Class Two - General Crime Prevention Services
and Maintenance of Public Order
Output Class Four - Police Primary Response Management
Output Class Five - Investigations
Support to Judicial Process
Output Class Seven - Road Safety Programme
Financial Statements
Additional Financial Information
Information Required by Statute
Organisational Information
Statistical Information
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Report of the New Zealand Police for the year ended 30 June 2005
120 page PDF, 3887 KB
