Breath-test police's drink culture

By MATHEW DEARNALEY

Public drinking and inflated travel allowances condoned by supervisors of a police alcohol squad were raised in defence of a sacked constable who has won back his job.

The Employment Court heard that members of the Auckland-based compulsory breath testing unit used department vehicles to travel to Northland beaches and fishing spots, sometimes openly drinking large volumes of alcohol near members of the public.

Although they were told to tone down their antics after a complaint by a retired officer, Judge Graeme Colgan said managers of the so-called "flying squad" continued to regard such uses of marked police vehicles as acceptable team-building exercises.

Standardised allowance claims also overstated travel times to and from official duties in Northland by many hours, irregularities which were known to and participated in by supervisors, who also tolerated the use of rental vans for private travel to and from work.

An investigation after squad member Constable John Wallace Riddell's dismissal in 1999 found 33 cases in which officers claimed over-payments of $36 to $400.

These were recovered, but no disciplinary charges were laid against other members, despite a review by the Police Complaints Authority.

Mr Riddell, a former traffic officer now driving a truck in Wellington, was sacked after pleading guilty to internal police charges of making false travel and timesheet claims and of using an official vehicle for personal business.

He used a rental car, in which he had travelled back from Kaikohe to Auckland on police business, to respond to a distress call from his fiancee in Hamilton, saying he thought it was too late for his own vehicle to be unlocked from the Wiri police station.

After returning a day later than rostered, he lodged a false claim for an unworked shift and travel allowances.

Judge Colgan said the sacked constable was in a minority of unit staff who did not drink much alcohol, meaning he ended up driving more often than others and complained of being denigrated for being abstemious.

But he said Mr Riddell was perhaps inevitably part of "cultures" shared by some supervisors of consistently recording inaccurate travel times and of a relaxed attitude towards the private use of police vehicles "and other elements of good discipline".

The former Employment Tribunal endorsed the dismissal, ruling that Mr Riddell severely damaged his reputation of honesty and destroyed his employer's trust and confidence.

Judge Colgan accepted on an appeal by Mr Riddell that the sacked constable misled an employer who was entitled to expect higher standards of honesty from police officers.

But he was left with "an abiding sense of disquiet" that the dismissal was a substantially more severe punishment than that imposed on others in similar circumstances.

These included a constable fined $250 for attending a Guy Fawkes party during his shift then claiming overtime, and another fined $600 after being recorded on a surveillance camera as being at a private address for almost eight hours when meant to be on duty.

He ordered the police to reinstate Mr Riddell, with retraining if necessary, and to pay him lost wages for the 4 1/2 years since his dismissal with discounts for earnings from other jobs and $1200 for contributory conduct.

But he refused to award any compensation, saying reinstatement was enough.

Mr Riddell's lawyer, Alex Hope, said he expected lost wages to amount to about $80,000 after tax and the court-ordered deductions.

Police spokesman Jon Neilson said the department was still considering whether to challenge the decision in the Court of Appeal.

He said the breath-testing unit had been restructured, but he had no details of any efforts to tighten discipline.

Mr Hope said his client, now aged 33, had held several other jobs since his dismissal but was keen to be reinstated as a constable.