A police inquiry into allegations about their undercover programme is a jack-up, says former Police Association head Rob Moodie.
The police have named Wellington lawyer Bruce Squire, QC, as the senior barrister who will investigate allegations of illegal drug use and supply, institutionalised perjury, unfair dismissal and denial of health, welfare and employment opportunities for former drug agents.
Mr Squire would report to Police Commissioner Rob Robinson with recommendations on whether any further inquiries might be needed.
"It's a jack-up inquiry, that's all it is and I'm quite happy to say it," Dr Moodie said yesterday.
He is acting as an advocate for former officers who spoke out last week, and says he will be advising them "to have nothing to do with the inquiry".
"When a commissioner of police appoints a barrister to inquire into a matter, it is not in any sense an independent inquiry ... you employ a lawyer to do what you want done."
Dr Moodie said Mr Robinson had taken the same approach to concerns about the undercover programme as he had taken to sexual allegations against police, which will soon be the subject of several inquiries.
"The Government didn't wear it with the sexual complaints, and it shouldn't wear it with this either," Dr Moodie said.
"I would hope the Government would see that if you're going to have an inquiry you have to have a valid inquiry, and the independence of the inquiry has to be valid."
The Police Association said last week that the officers had "long-standing and genuine grievances" in relation to their treatment by the police during and after their deployment as undercover officers.
But the Court of Appeal had ruled in 2002 that the majority, including all those who appeared on Holmes last week, had no claim for compensatory damages, because they were eligible for ACC compensation.
The association said it had supported the officers over the past 10 years and spent more than $1 million helping them seek legal redress.
They had received more than $5 million in earnings-related compensation and several were still receiving weekly compensation payments.
As well, they had received considerable rehabilitation, counselling and job retraining.
Police public affairs general manager Michael Player said Dr Moodie's attack on a fellow barrister and an esteemed Queen's Counsel was "curious".
"It perhaps reflects more on Dr Moodie's objectivity than on his more senior colleague in the legal profession," Mr Player said.
He said Dr Moodie could instruct any clients he had in whatever way he saw fit.
Inquiry's scope
Lawyer Bruce Squire, QC, will:
* Assess allegations made on the Holmes television programme last week.
* Consider similar allegations made by former undercover officers to a parliamentary select committee in 1996.
* Review a previous police inquiry into those matters.
- NZPA
Policing probe a jack-up says Moodie
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.