$1m payout to wronged police chief

Former Wanganui police commander Alec Waugh has been awarded $1 million for lost pay, expenses and the humiliation he suffered while battling to get his job back.

Now his lawyer, former Police Association secretary Rob Moodie, wants him appointed to a senior metropolitan police command.

Mr Waugh was reinstated as a police superintendent in March, working in the commissioner's office in Wellington, after the Employment Court ruled that his 1998 resignation over alleged expenses fraud was invalid.

Employment Court Chief Judge Tom Goddard yesterday awarded Mr Waugh payments totalling at least $1 million.

The backpay component includes about $100,000 that Mr Waugh would have earned had he been promoted to a metropolitan command.

Judge Goddard said Mr Waugh would probably have been made Wellington or Christchurch police commander in 1999 had his career not been derailed two years earlier by charges of expenses fraud - convictions since quashed.

Dr Moodie said last night that Mr Waugh should be given a metropolitan command.

"He proved himself in Wanganui and Judge Goddard has said he would have got the Wellington or Christchurch job."

The case had been a salutary lesson to police management in how not to treat someone, he said.

A spokesman for Commissioner Rob Robinson said police needed time to consider the judgment.

Mr Waugh was appointed Wanganui district commander in 1994 and gained a national reputation for his calm handling of the 1995 Maori occupation of Moutoa Gardens.

Two years later, he was accused of fiddling his expenses. He resigned in 1998 and pleaded guilty to 10 charges, believing that was the only way to keep his full superannuation.

But the High Court quashed the convictions in 2002 and last December Judge Goddard ruled that the resignation was invalid and caused by wrong advice from police management about his superannuation.

The award includes $871,000 for lost base salary including tax, a sum still to be determined of about $100,000 for the extra pay Mr Waugh would have received as a metropolitan commander, $232,000 for expenses, including the petition that led to the 2002 High Court case, and $50,000 for humiliation, loss of dignity and injury to feelings.

The total, about $1.25 million, was ordered reduced by the $262,726 Mr Waugh earned in other jobs while out of the police, making the net award about $1 million.

He will also receive costs from the Employment Court case.

Mr Waugh has already been paid $300,000 after tax by the police, pending yesterday's decision.

Police must also reinstate Mr Waugh's pension rights.

Beat to command

* 1971 Alec Waughjoins police, rises through ranks.

* 1994 Wanganui commander.

* 1997 Charged with fiddling police expenses.

* 1998 Pleads guilty to defrauding police of $1199. Resigns from force.

* 2002 High Court quashes convictions after inquiry found "improper pressures" prompted change of plea.

* 2003 Cleared to return to police.

- NZPA